


Future Card Buddyfight Chronicles, Reflections of a Lost Maiden

by DragonTreasury



Category: Future Card Buddyfight
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2020-09-19 10:16:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20329501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonTreasury/pseuds/DragonTreasury
Summary: The Demon Lord Dragon Luxure has awoken from a coma, but the others in Dragon World have forgotten about her, and it seems like most of her friends are gone. The last thing she could remember was some strange masked figure. Who was this figure, and what happened to her? She'll need some extra help to figure all of this out. Oddly enough that help would come in the form of a human by the name of Jay, who always wanted a Buddy of his own so that he could become a true Buddyfighter. Jay also always wanted to be a hero like Gao, and his friends, and shows that in his acting. Will Jay and Luxure be able to come together as true buddies, who is this masked figure, and what happened to Luxure and her fellow Gala Maidens on that day?





	1. Return of the Demon Lord Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> I always look forward to comments, because I like to know what I did right, and what could use improvement. If there was something you felt was off; please let me know, so I can figure out how to improve for the next time. Let me know what you think when you are done reading. I had others read this ahead of time, and this was due to the fact I felt there was a pacing issue with it feeling too fast. What do you think about this, and any advice on how to improve is always appreciated as well.

Chapter 1: Return of the Demon Lord Dragon

She couldn't see anything in front of her. Were her eyes closed, or was this just how dark everything was? She couldn't even move her body correctly. It felt uncomfortable. Was she moving her right arm, or her left? Heck, it could have even been her own foot at this rate. Her breathing picked up, and became more and more panicked as she tried to squirm about in the darkness.

"Oh. I don't think I've quite seen one like you here? Although, I can't say I'm disappointed. The Lost don't normally do pretty, so someone like you is welcomed."

"L-Lost?" she asked.

"Open your eyes," the deep voice said.

She couldn't, it was as if she forgot how to. She strained what only she could assume were her eyes, but it was like they were stuck. Her breathing was getting heavier. The only indicator that she was alive. At least, as alive as she could be. She couldn't quite call this current state living. She couldn't even remember how she got here in the first place.

"Quite interesting how they move like that."

"Help me! What's going on? I can't do anything. Where am I?"

"You are currently on the path of becoming one of the Lost. One of the Buddy Monsters that was left behind in this world. One to be forgotten by the rest of the world, but there is hope for you. Join with us, and you will have a home among your fellow Lost brethren."

"I'm not lost. What are you talking about?" she asked. She tried in vain to open her eyes, but the sheer act of trying pained her. Her body ached, her limbs felt weak, and this voice was all she had for company.

"Usually the process isn't as painful for many, but the state you were in when I found you was…unpleasant. I'm quite surprised that you are able to even respond to me now."

"W-Wait," she said. It was coming back to her: A mask. That was the last thing she saw, and the last thing she heard was that creature's laugh. That eerie laugh, before she felt its hand on her.

"You're breathing is picking up again. I can tell by the way they are moving."

"W-What? Oh don't tell me that you are…"

"Forget it. Do you want my help or not?"

"I could use help, but I'm not one of your Lost. I have friends, and they would never forget me."

"I remember when I was told the same thing by a friend of mine. I tried to convince him otherwise, but that was before I got to know him, but there is a difference."

"What?"

"They are as Lost as you."

"What is being Lost? Am I dead?"

"Dying, would be the proper term. The Lost existed before, so taking in new members is a different experience."

"Did you do this to me!?"

"No. Like I said, I found you in that state. What is your name?"

"Luxure." She felt something washing over her body. Warmth? Cold? Happiness? Sorrow? Love? She couldn't describe it. It was as if everything was trying to embrace her, and yet nothing at the same time. What she did know though, was that her eyes were finally starting to flutter open. The first thing she saw nearly made her faint. A large skull-like…thing was hovering over her. No, it was more like towering over her. This thing was practically cyclopean in size, and those eyes. Those green eyes. There looked to be no emotion on them, and yet…she could feel something from it.

"Afraid? Most are of my presence. I am known as Vanity Husk Destroyer. I am the one who commands the power of the Lost World."

"G-Get away from me. I'm not one of you."

"Don't struggle, and let me help you. Currently your spirit has been badly broken."

"So, I am dead then?"

"No, and I don't know where your body is quite now. I just found your spirit wandering about in this battered state."

Luxure turned her head to the right; groaning in pain as she did so. Despite this creature's efforts: she was still hurting, but at least she could finally see now. Sadly, it was just some dark void that surrounded them. She could see Vanity though, and how he was staring at her, with those weird claw like appendages coming out from him. She shivered, before feeling them poke and prod at her smooth scales. Luxure threw her head back, just letting the curious creature continue with whatever he was doing. Especially because, it was helping her. She felt some of her strength returning. Her body still ached, but at least, she could finally move her arms and legs. She rolled her shoulders, before wiggling her clawed toes. The pain was well worth the ability to move again.

"I'm glad it's working." His appendages continued to explore the curvatures of her body. She could see some odd light coming from the tips of them. They stung, but most likely: they were the reason she could do any of this now. His eyes continued to scan over her body in a way she was quite familiar with.

"Checking for any blemishes in my form? Well usually as a dragon of beauty. I make sure to snuff those out." There wasn't a response of him. Instead once he was done he got closer to her face. His eyes looking down at her. "Thank you," she said.

"Regardless of what you may think of my form. I try to make sure the members of Lost World are taken care of.

"Like I told you before. I'm not a member of Lost World. I just need to find a way to get back into my body, and then find my friends. They'll help me figure out what happened."

"I regret to inform you about this the, but…" Vanity seemed to pause, and even though there seemed to be no emotion on his face. She could feel like he was actually at a loss for words.

"Please, if they are in the same predicament as me. Help them, we aren't Lost, we just seem to have ran into trouble. What it was, I don't know though."

"Are you sure that is what you want? There's a reason I mentioned that you belong here, and it wasn't just due to your current state."

"Huh?" she asked.

"Rather than show you; I'll let your spirit wander. Maybe you'll find your body and wake up, and if you do. You'll see what I meant." The imposing skull began to float off. "I hope to see you again Luxure."

Her eyes began to feel heavy. The further he went: the weaker she seemed to feel. Was he only helping her, so that she'd join him, or was this something else? It didn't matter now, as everything went black once more. With no Vanity to speak too; she was back to her thoughts. The thoughts of him: The large dark grey dragon that could tower over many of the denizens of Dragon World. His long pointed black horns, and his mane of red hair. "W-Where are you?" she muttered under her breath.

***

_"I'm going to be leaving Dragon World soon."_

_"…"_

_"Don't you care?"_

_"I do care, but you said this was your dream, and I'm not going to stop you. I thought you said something about friends needing to help each other follow what their heart desires, or something like that. Your speeches sometimes had a bad habit of going in one ear and out the other."_

_"Geeze, thanks."_

_"Ha! I'm just messing you! I just hope things go well for you."_

_"Thank you. I hope to see you again. Please don't forget about me."_

***

"Ahh!" Luxure gasped as her eyes shot open. She didn't think that she'd be able to see the sun again, but here it was; hanging high in the sky. From what she could see outside the window; there were some stone flooring ahead, with some occasion blades of grass poking through some cracks. It seemed to contradict the clean wooden floors of her current room. She walked over to a mirror in the corner of this small bedroom. Her soft draconic face was free from any blemishes, and her deep purple scales looked as smooth as any other day. She grabbed onto her plump breasts while letting out a hearty laugh. "As beautiful and gorgeous as ever!" She fluffed up her voluminous mane of midnight blue hair, before making sure her draconic fins properly stuck out from her full locks. The only thing that covered her was the bed sheet on her body. The door creaked open, and walking inside was a rather muscular red dragon, who was clad in some dull golden armor. Her gaze shifted down to his toned legs, which seemed to be exposed due to the nature of his pelvic armor. She shifted her gaze back up to his face: The drill-like horn on the tip of his snout stuck out the most to her; along with his large spiky blonde hair. 'Hello handsome.'

"Glad to see that you're awake," he said while keeping his gaze averted from her. "Your dress will be ready soon, but I recommend that you go back and lay down."

"I thank you for your help, but may I ask, what is your name handsome?"

He snickered, "My name is Drum Bunker Dragon, but you can just refer to me as Drum, and I'm thankful my wife isn't here right now to hear you say that."

She giggled while walking over to the bed; giving her hips a bit of shake from left to right, and letting her long tail sway back and forth, before plopping her plush ass on the bed. "Married man, figured as much." There was silence for a brief moment; her eyes shifted over to the window. It was so much better than the empty void of darkness she was just in. Although, she still doesn't remember much of else. She lowered her head into her hands; massaging her temples with the tips of her fingers.

"Are you alright Ms…?" Drum asked.

"My current title is Demon Lord Dragon, Lady Luxure, but you can just call me Luxure."

"Demon Lord Dragon, you? Well that's something new." Drum pulled up a wooden chair right near the bed, before sitting down. "I've heard of the Demon Lords before, but I'm sure I never heard of you."

"What? How!?" she exclaimed; slamming her hands onto the bed.

Vanity's voice rang through her head, "You are currently on the path of becoming one of the Lost. One of the Buddy Monsters that was left behind. One to be forgotten by the rest of the world."  
'Is that what he meant?' She looked back up at Drum, who still seemed calm despite her minor outburst. Even though she couldn't see it, she could feel the embarrassment swelling up in her, and she knew that was mostly likely blushing at how silly she looked right now. "S-Sorry about that."

"Don't worry, I've been there myself, and so has a friend of mine."

"No, it was very unlady-like of me to do. Well, more so unfitting for a Demon Lord Dragon like myself."

Drum just laughed. "Don't stress yourself. You just woke up after years of sleeping. At least from what I heard."

"WHAT!?" she shouted.

"I didn't stutter. You were basically in a coma when I found you. Well, more so, when others found you."

She fell back on the bed; seeing Drum's eyes look away in the process. "I thank you still Drum. I wish I could repay you in some way."

"No need." Drum said while standing up. "I'm going to go check on your dress. I bet you'd like to see more of Dragon World."

"Would you mind if I go with you?"

"Of course, I wasn't going to let you just wander around by yourself." She watched him walk out, before plopping back on the bed.

'No one knows who I am? How is that possible?' Out of nowhere: A long jet black dress was thrown on top of her, which caused her hands to flail about.

"Just come out when you are ready!" Drum said from behind the door.

It didn't take long for her to slip into her familiar wear; letting out a sigh of relief as both of her curvaceous legs were able to stick out due to the two slits on either side of dress. She walked over to the door and opened it, and for what felt like a while in some unknown darkness: she was finally able to see the outside world again. At least, the outside world that was Dragon World: The warm and smooth surface of the stones beneath her feet, the mixture of grassy hills and stone temples, and just the beauty of feeling the air hitting her face once more was all so pleasing. She took in a deep breath; nostrils flaring as the fresh air rushed right in, before she let out a lengthy exhale, as her hair blew in the breeze. Drum just smiled, as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's get going." He led her onward, as she continued to take in her surroundings. "I hope you don't mind telling me some more about yourself?"

She placed a finger on her own lips, "Sure thing." She kept her tone rather breathy, and even batted her eyelashes at him.

Drum shook his head, but she could see a smile on his face. "Great, a flirter."

"You can say that," she said. "What did you want to know about me? Besides my name of course."

"What happened to you on the day you went into that coma? From what it seemed like, the Dragons that found you that day were confused. It was just you in some sort of grand hall. Maybe you remember something from that day?"

Her flirtatious attitude subsided; her gaze averted from his. Why did he have to ask that? She could have tried to answer anything else, but no, he wanted to know about that day. She placed a hand on her head; trying to gather her thoughts, but all she could think about was the lush grass and bright sunshine. They practically flooded her thoughts at this point, and trying to think back to what caused her to be in that state sent a sharp stinging pain though her body. Most of it was focused on her head. She rubbed her temples while keeping her eyes closed. All she could hear was that creature's cackling laugh. That same laugh that she heard before she fainted, but through the darkness that was her closed eyelids, she saw it.

***

_A weird mask. It was like one a court jester would wear, with some asymmetrical crescent moon shaped eye slits in place of more normal ones._

_"Who are you?"_

_"…" A hand reached out for her. She jumped back: only to feel the creature's hand grab her by the back of her neck. It pulled her right up to its masked face._

_"Unhand me!" she shouted. That crazed laugh came from him once more. She shivered in his grasp; kicking at him, before a flash of blinding light engulfed them._

***

"Luxure!" Drum's voice snapped her out of her daze. The dragoness' head turned over. Only to be looking at the Armordragon's toned thighs. She was on her knees, but was unsure of how it happened, but what made matters worse: was that other dragons looked at them. Many of them looked shocked at the sight before them.

'Oh no, they are staring. Did I embarrass myself? How much did they hear? Was I panting, shouting? Come on Luxure, act normal.' She shot straight up; clearing her throat into her closed hand while dusting off her dress. "I hoped you all enjoyed our practice performance! Come back another time to see the whole show!" she laughed; placing her left hand on her hip while keeping her right one over her mouth. "Once we get more volunteers of course!"

"Wait what!?" Drum shouted. She watched a few heads turn while most of the crowd of onlookers walked away. He placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "I don't know what a performance has to do with asking if you're alright, or you just falling to your knees."

She could feel heat coming from her cheeks. How could she have let her composure slip like this? "Sorry about that. I was just having a hard time remembering that day. I'd honestly prefer to talk about anything else."

"You really can't remember anything?"

"Sadly no, or at least nothing relevant." She waited for Drum to lead the way again before following him. "Where are we going anyway? I know we were going to check out some of Dragon World, but was there a location in particular you were heading towards?"

"Back to my place. By the looks of your little breakdown, you still seem to be out of it, so I'll just let you stay for a period of time while we discuss some course of action."

She tilted her head, "What about your wife?"

"She's far from the jealous type, and besides, she's not home." Drum sighed. "She's on official business again, so she'll be away for a while."

Her eyes looked about. The carious food stalls littered about, along with the sheer number of dragons shopping and conversing amongst each other and the various wood and stone buildings made her realize that they were at a marketplace. The sight of two young dragons sparing with one another caught her attention. A young black dragon was being pinned down by the blue one, but it didn't last long as he managed to break free, and tackle the other down. If it wasn't their laughter and smiling faces: she would have sworn they hated each other, but Dragon World was known for producing powerful warriors. The blue dragon waved over at her, with the black dragon flashing her a smile of his own. She placed a hand over her chest and smiled back them; waving back at them, before walking back to Drum.

Drum snickered "Glad to see you're quick to recover your composure."

"Why of course, even though a lady like myself shouldn't be embarrassed, I can still fix myself up from such a faux pas."

Drum laughed; holding onto his sides. "Fancy aren't you."

"You mentioned that your wife was out on some business what was it?"

"I'm not allowed to say," Drum stated bluntly. "I promised to keep that on the hush hush."

The two of them soon arrived in front of a large stone temple of sorts. "Dad!" many young voices shouted in borderline unison. She watched as Drum was nearly tackled to the ground by a swarm of young dragons. Many of them looked like younger versions of himself, but with varying hair colors, and different shades of red for their scales. It wasn't long before one of them tugged at her dress. "Hey there miss, are you one of dad's friends?"

She bent over; patting him on the head. His giggling put a smile on her face. "I guess you could say that." Drum meanwhile was focused on greeting his children.

"Dad is going to be busy for a while, do you want a tour around?"

She pat him on the head one last time, before scooting him along to his father. "That's okay, go and give him a big hug. I can go look around myself." She waved at the kid, before walking past them. She might as well get her bearings around here while Drum was a bit preoccupied, and there was a rather nice looking lake view not too far from the temple, so maybe she could relax there and focus on her thoughts. She felt the blades of wet grass in between her toes; enjoying the almost soothing feel along with the soft crisp sounds of her feet walking along the blades of grass. 'What will I do next?' she grabbed onto a small stone and tossed it up and down a few times in her hands while plopping her plush ass on the ground. 'Chanteuse? Where are you? Is that weird skull right? Are you really lost, gone from this world?' She tossed the stone up in the air one last time, before throwing it at the lake, but it sank almost instantly. She let loose a low snarl, before grabbing another stone and trying it again, but sadly it was the same result. 'I couldn't tell him about that weird mask. I'd look even odder than I probably do now. How long was I even asleep for? He said years, but how many? How much did I miss?' She tried one last time: pulling her arm back far, before really letting that stone fly. Sadly, it sank just like the previous two, and this time some of the water actually splashed on her face, which made her snarl once more. 'Crud.'

A giggle came from behind her, and a young girl's voice spoke up soon after. "Wow, you suck at skipping stones." She glanced over. It must have been another of Drum's children. Although, this one was different: this one had a more angular and pointed snout. It was almost triangular in appearance, with what looked like light blue scales instead of the red that the others had. She was much taller than the ones she just saw, which meant that she was most likely a teenager, or at the least, older than they were. She ruffled the light blue dragon's already messy mane of rose pink hair; making her grunt a bit, as she tried to shoo away Luxure's hands from her hair. She giggled though soon after, and took a seat next to her. "I'm Avarice, who are you?"

"Luxure," It wasn't long before she noticed a small and thick wooden stick poking out from a pocket in her pants. "You collecting stuff for your family?"

She raised a brow at her, before looking down at what was poking out of her pocket. "Oh that? No, it's my own personal training wand."

"A Dragon World monster that is practicing magic? That's rather interesting."

Avarice pouted, "It's not unheard of, besides, both of my parents have practiced magic, so why can't I?"

"Wait what?" She asked.

"That's right," Avarice flashed her the toothiest grin she could; puffing out her chest. "My father practiced in Magic World a long time ago, and he was probably one of the best wizards around." She snickered. "I mean, my mother is still a way better mage though. Physical combat was more of my dad's specialty anyway, but the point is. Magic is my bloodline, and I'm going to be a great wizard one day."

She rested her head on the tree behind her. "Why are you not training with the Dragowizard's in Magic World then?"

"A-Actually," Avarice blushed. "My mom wants to make sure I'm ready before going for that training, so I need to make sure I practice even more than I already am."

"So why aren't you practicing then?"

"I was, but you looked so out of it. Sitting here by the lake all by yourself, so I thought you'd like to have someone to talk too."

"Thank you," She watched as Avarice threw a few stones across the lake. Apparently, the young dragoness was much better at skipping stones than she was. A second and third stone followed right after, and each one skipped further than the last.

"I assume you must be new around Dragon World, since I haven't seen a dragon like you around here."

She sighed. Although, considering Avarice's apparent age, maybe this time it made sense that she didn't know her. "Actually, I've lived here in Dragon World since I was a hatchling, but it seems like this whole word forgot about me." She sighed, "Or maybe, I was never important enough to begin with."

"There's no need to be down. It doesn't suit a dragon like yourself."

"You hardly even know me though." She giggled.

"No, but I do!" another female called out to them. No, it wasn't just another female. This woman had a voice that she couldn't forget. A voice that sounded like a perfect fit for an heiress. She turned around. If she could see herself; her eyes would have been lit up with both joy and relief. Standing before them was a two headed dog dressed in a large midnight blue ballroom gown, with a dark red trim at the end of her sleeves and gown. Both of her heads had a toothy smirk, as both heads stared at the two of them. She let loose a familiar flirtatious snarl at her. "Since when was the proud leader of the Gala Maiden's…" the right head spoke out, only to have the left one speak up in a slightly deeper feminine tone, "so broody?"

"Chanteuse!" She jumped up and ran over to her, with her arms out; embracing the Othrus right away. She squeezed her body tight. Not caring if both of their dresses got ruffled in the exchange. "It's so good to see you," she said while a few tears began to roll down her face, and onto the dog's dress. She felt Chanteuse's hand on her head; her fingers going through her luxurious voluminous hair.  
Luxure felt Chanteuse's hands wrap around her. 'That'll show that talking skull. My friends aren't lost at all.' She rubbed her face into her neck while pushing Chanteuse into her body; letting their plush breasts press against one another. Chanteuse let out a low moan into her ear. 'I'm so glad at least someone from my past is here.' Her fingers pressed as deep into Chanteuse's back as they could. She felt her fingers wiping away the tears from her eyes.

"Don't worry my dear Lady. I'm here for you," she said. "But, we have a lot to discuss."


	2. The First Code of the Gala Maidens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Luxure's old friend Chanteuse back. The three need to discuss a course of action, but it seems there are some who know of her, and they want both her and Drum to join with them.

She heard _his_ voice. The voice of her master. “Serpentis, come before me.” The older woman walked up while adjusting her draconic mask that covered only the top half of her face. She stared at the back of a large office chair, which was something she was used to at this point. It was the signal that said _“I’m currently out right now, but I request your audience.”_ She got down on one knee while keeping eye contact away from the chair. A rather pleased “Good,” came from her master.

“To what do I owe the honor of being called in?” Her tone was cold, but thankfully, he was used to it.

“Luxure has awoken from her…_slumber_. Do you mind paying her a little visit?” Her master’s words always made a little part of her body shiver. Maybe it was just the way he said _“Slumber”_ that could have made her skin crawl, and even though she couldn’t see him. She knew a part of him enjoyed that sensation. The faint laughter coming from behind the chair was good confirmation of this. “You know I trust you more than anyone to handle this. Make sure she doesn’t take no for an answer." She rose to her feet and bowed before the chair before leaving the room. Although, as she set one foot on the other side of the door. He spoke up one last time, “Oh, and make sure that the Bunker Dragon family receives my invitation as well. M.A.S.K.E.R can always use strong monsters like them.”

“Yes master.” She muttered under her breath. The door slammed shut right behind her; leaving her in a rather fancy looking office lobby. 

Another person was standing in front of her: a black male with a domino mask. He tipped his dusty brown cowboy hat. “Did the master chew you out?” he asked in a deep voice. She walked past him, but he scooted just enough to block her off. “I’m asking you a question, what happened in there?” She kept her gaze averted. The only thing she could see was his right arm and leg, and with one smooth motion, she placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him away. The sound of him falling down on the polished floors was audible, and it made her snicker while she left him on the ground. “Friendly as always huh Serpentis? Is Master’s little whipping girl too good to fill in one of her teammates about what he said?” She pressed the button to call for the elevator. The sounds of the man’s footsteps grew louder, before he was right behind her. He took a deep breath, before placing a hand on her shoulder and turning her around to face him. “I’m not a fan of your attitude. I just want to know what happened. Maybe I could help you?”

“Get off me.” Her tone was even colder when dealing with him. She placed two fingers on the dark blue gem on top of the forehead of her mask. She felt the chill that came from it the more she concentrated, and it wasn’t long before he just let her go, with a gruff sounding huff.

“Forget it. See if I help you if you actually get in trouble then.” He walked off. As the elevator came up, she snickered again, before stepping inside.

“I don’t need assistance…especially from you Dune.” She mumbled to herself while the doors began to close. She stood there just waiting for it to reach the bottom floor. She reached into the pocket of her midnight blue long coat, and pulled out a Buddyfight card. On it was a picture of bipedal wolf-like beast made of what looked like fire. Its arms and legs were covered with some sort of dark purple gauntlets and greaves respectively, and a matching Athenian helmet covering some of its face that allowed its long fiery light blue hair to still be visible. She kept the card close to her, as the dinging sound of the elevator was heard. She stepped out into the downstairs lobby and raised the card in the air. “Star Beast, heed my call!” A flash of light emanated from her card, as right before her eyes: the same beast of the card appeared before her, except it was a good few feet taller than her. All it did stare at her, as she placed a hand on the side of its head. The monster leaned its head close to hers’, before it tried its own attempt at nuzzling her face with its forehead. The strands of her icy blue hair almost tickled its face. She just stared back at it, and continued to rub across the exposed part of its fiery fur with ease. Afterwards, she hopped on its back, “Now, to Dragon World!” She tapped on the gemstone on her mask once more, which caused a dark looking portal to open up before them. “We have a few guests to acquire.” The monster dove into the portal while it closed behind them.

***

What did Chanteuse mean by _"We have a lot to discuss?"_ Well, she knew what that meant exactly, but she was so confused. It felt as if so much happened in such a short period of time. It would have been nice if she could get her bearings, as she only just awoke today. She pulled back enough so that she could stare at Chanteuse’s face, without breaking their embrace. Although, Avarice’s throat clearing was a clear indicator that maybe they two of them were being a bit too friendly.

“Sorry about that,” Chanteuse’s right head said to Avarice while letting go of Luxure. She could see the blush on both of the Othrus’ faces. The left one spoke up. “We could always talk somewhere a bit more private. Why don’t we head out of here?”

“If you have anything to explain, then please include me!” Drum exclaimed as he stood in front of the women with his arms folded. “Thank you for keeping her company, but shouldn’t you go back to your training?”

“O-Oh, yeah, of course.” Avarice said while rubbing the back of her head. She ran past the two, and turned around a few moments after to wave at her. “Nice seeing you Luxure! I hope you can stop by again, and maybe you’ll be able to meet my mother next time!”

“Maybe I will,” she said while waving her off. Watching as the young dragon almost skipped back home. She turned back to Drum once Avarice was far enough away. “I do apologize for all that.”

“No need.” Drum turned over to look at Chanteuse. She noticed that his eyes looked at Chanteuse’s own generous breasts, before turning back to look at her, then down to her chest. She snickered and cupped them before giving them a good shake for the Armordragon. “I can definitely tell she’s a friend of yours.” He extended a hand to Chanteuse. “I’m Drum Bunker Dragon.”

“I’m Twin Songstress, Chanteuse, but please…” she grabbed onto his larger hand with both of hers’. “Call me Chanteuse,” both heads let loose a low growl, but still kept a rather happy look.

“You wanted to join in on our conversation then?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I rather us talk inside.” He looked behind him. The three of them could see how happy his children were while playing around outside. Their laughter made her feel warm, and she saw that Chanteuse held a hand close her to chest while staring at them.

“I’m fine with that,” she said.

“I understand your worry, but this is something between Gala Maidens only,” Chanteuse stated.

“You do understand that you both are at my home right, so if something is going on, I need to know what that is.” The two stared at one another. Chanteuse keeping one hand on her right hip while tapping her foot. She leaned in closer to his face. He grinned and placed a hand on her shoulder. Her left head glared at him. It looked like that head was going to bite at his hand, but Chanteuse’s right one was staring at her. She walked up and politely hit Chanteuse’s left head, which caused it to turn over to her.

“What was that for?” the left head asked. “Because you were making me look foolish,” the right one said.

She stepped in front of Chanteuse. “Drum has a point though, this is his home, and we’d be rude guests if we discussed these matters in private.” She did a quick curtsey, with Chanteuse doing the same. Although it took her a few seconds to do so. Luxure stared at Drum and placed a hand on his shoulder. “He helped me during a time where I was unable to move. A time where many would have just considered me dead, so we can trust him.”

“Do you remember what happened to the last person you trusted?” Chanteuse asked. That was a good question though. She _didn't_ know what happened. She couldn’t remember much, so instead, she just stared at her. Tilting her head off to the side and raising a brow. Both of Chanteuse’s heads sighed. “I was hoping you did, because all I know was that whoever you last let into our hall got us into the situation we are in now, but I’m unsure of what actually happened, and who this person was.”

“Oh so you’re suffering with some slight amnesia as well?” Drum asked.

“What?” The Orthus’ right head asked. “Heck no!” the left head barked back. “I just don’t remember what happened that much then, but I know who I am, where we are, and much more." 

Drum just snickered, “No need to get so heated.” He began to walk back home, so she followed right behind him, with Chanteuse right behind her. “I just wanted to make sure that you both are okay. Although, I wasn’t expecting two ladies to come home with me today.”

“Thank you,” they both said in unison. It wasn’t that long, before they arrived inside of the stone temple itself. The inside of it was minimalistic. It only had a table and what looked like a rustic couch pushed away in the corner. Drum walked ahead towards the back rooms, as she took a step forward; Drum raised his right hand, as if he was trying to tell her to wait here. He soon was gone, which left the two of them here to wait.

“How long has it been?” she asked.

“I assume you’re talking about how long have you been away? I don’t quite remember the exact time, but it has been quite a few years.” Chanteuse dusted off her gown, before slowly sitting down on the cool stone floor. She wiggled her hips a bit to make sure she was as comfortable as she could be.

Luxure sped over to Chanteuse. She looked down at her, with her hands on her wide hips, as she leaned down closer to the Orthus. “What about the rest of the Gala Maidens? Where are they? Don’t tell me that they are…”

It wasn’t long, before the two girls saw some steam coming from one of the back rooms. Drum walked out from back there with a metallic pitcher that had steam emanating from the spout in one hand, and in the other he had a plate that had a two teacups on it. Each one had a tea bag inside. He placed the pitcher on the table, before placing a teacup in front of Chanteuse, and one right on the other end of the table. She sat down by the cup while Drum poured some hot water in her cup first, before pouring some in Chanteuse’s. “Quite the gentleman,” Chanteuse said while gently bouncing the tea bag up and down, before letting it set.

“Thank you,” she said before doing the same with her own. She blew at her hot tea a few times, before watching as Drum left again for the back room.

“As usual my lady, you find rather interesting company.” Chanteuse’s left head spoke up.

“He’s very nice though.”

“Of course he is, but I’m still not used to his...hospitality.”

“That’s because you are so used to Darkness Dragon World hospitality,” she laughed while Chanteuse smirked back at her.

“I’m used to Gala Maiden hospitality though.” The right head spoke up. Chanteuse reached over to bring in Luxure for another hug. The two women smiled at one another, before breaking their rather quick hug.

“Speaking of which, what happened to the rest of our members?”

“No clue my lady, I recently awoke today.”

“Wait!? You were in the same state as well?” she exclaimed. Chanteuse nodded while taking a sip of her tea. How she was able to enjoy unsweetened tea was always a mystery to her. It always tasted so bland, and the minor tea taste wasn’t enough for her. “Did you happen to see…you know?”

“A giant skull?”

“So you did see him!” she exclaimed.

“See who?” Drum asked as he walked back out, this time with some leaves that he placed down on the table. “I don’t quite have sugar, but these leaves are just as good.” She looked at them: they looked…cooked, with them being a rather burnt orange in color. Some parts of them looked a bit more charred than others, which made her raise a brow. “I know they look odd, but trust me, they do the trick. It’s much easier to get sweets from earth than in Dragon World, but we have ways of making due.” She grabbed onto the stem of the leaf gingerly. She was kind of worried that it would just break if she moved it, but surprisingly, it didn’t. The second she dipped it into the tea though: it dissolved. She gasped while yanking it right out. Only half of the leaf was in her hand now, with the other half being nearly vaporized by her drink. “Don’t worry about it. That’s supposed to happen. Dip in the rest of it, then give it a sip.” Chanteuse watched while taking another sip from her unsweetened tea. Luxure meanwhile just did as Drum said and dunked the rest of it inside. Just like before: it dissolved into the steaming hot beverage, but soon there was a rather pleasant smelling aroma coming from it. Her nostrils flared as she took a few good whiffs. It smelled like sweet pumpkins. She grabbed onto the handle of her teacup with her right hand and the base of it with her left. After blowing on it a few more times, she took a sip. That sip soon turned into a quick swig once the sweetened taste of pumpkins flooded her mouth. The aroma just added to the taste of it. Who knew that some random leaves could actually provide such a taste?

“Well, I see Dragon World still has those specialized herbs,” Chanteuse said.

“Why would any of us just stop using them? Even though many of us have ways to get materials, spices, or the like. We still find it useful to hold on to some of these things.” Drum plopped down, as Luxure took another sip of her tea. “After all, they can come in handy.” He smiled at her.

She placed the teacup down and looked at the table, but sadly something was missing from it. Something that Chanteuse noticed. She handed her a white dinner napkin. “Oh, thank you.” She rubbed the soft cloth against her mouth while looking at the Armordragon. “Thanks Drum. I dislike the taste of unsweetened tea.”

“You need to get used to it,” Chanteuse quipped back, before smirking at the two of them. “It’s quite refreshing.”

“So what did you want to know about?”

“Well, why don’t we start with that whole skull creature that you both were talking about?” She shut her mouth the instant he said that while Chanteuse closed her eyes and sighed.

“It’s quite rude to spy on women while they are talking.”

Drum’s nostrils flared. “I overheard about it while I was on the way back to you both.”

“I actually wanted to continue that discussion. You mentioned that you saw the same skull. Did you happen to get his name?”

Chanteuse looked away. She could tell that the Orthus was still a bit hesitant. She looked at both her and Drum at once, before taking a deep breath. “The skull mentioned that his name was Vanity Husk Destroyer.” She paused for a brief moment, and took another deep breath. “He also mentioned that he ran into you, but I was also in no condition to go look for you. At least I wasn’t before. Apparently he said something about my spirit being damaged, or something of that nature.”

“So he healed you too!” she exclaimed. Chanteuse nodded, before looking back over to Drum.

“Have you heard of him?”

“Sadly no, but a name like that sounds like trouble. Regardless, I wanted to speak with you Luxure about getting you re-situated, but with your friend here now.” He looked over to Chanteuse, who was staring at the both of them. “I think a different option may be appropriate for you both.” He crossed his arms. “I assume you know of our relation to Earth right?”

“Of course,” both ladies said in unison.

“Good.” He let out a sigh of relief. “Glad to know that.” He stood up. “I think it may be best then for your both to start your search…” Drum’s pupils narrowed as he turned his head off out to the field. “Get down!” he shouted. Without warning Chanteuse tackled her down to the ground. Thankfully, her hair cushioned some of the blow of the back of her head hitting against the stone floor. Chanteuse meanwhile, had her arms wrapped around her. Flying past there head was a frozen arrow that seemed to glisten like the stars in the night sky. The arrow was embedded into the ground right near the top of her head. Drum walked up to them and grabbed the arrow. It looked like his body shivered for a second, before he yanked it out of the ground with ease. “Chanteuse, do you mind getting off of me?” she asked while trying to move her body, but Chanteuse held on tight.

“Not until we know the assailant the gone!”

“We are Gala Maidens! We laugh at danger, and meet it head on!” She looked past Chanteuse’s heads. “You hear me! Show yourself!” A loud howling roar came from right outside, and few of Drum’s children ran inside right behind their father.

“There’s a weird monster outside!” one of them shouted.

“Yeah and it’s on fire!” another one chimed in.

‘On fire?’ Luxure thought as pushed Chanteuse off of her. She looked off in the direction where the arrow came from. She couldn’t see anyone in the distance, she turned back towards the arrow. A note was oddly enough tied onto it. She was going to reach for it, but then she heard a familiar voice from outside.

“Get out of here. This is Bunker family ground.”

“Avarice!” both Drum and Luxure shouted. Running inside of the temple were a few of Drum’s children. All them quickly held onto their father, most of them seemed rather distraught. “Luxure, Chanteuse, both of you wait here.” Drum looked down at his children. “Don’t worry, those two will keep you both safe.” He managed to get them off of his legs, and ran out soon after.

As she tried to take a step forward; Chanteuse spoke up. “Are you planning on disobeying him?”

“I’m not going to let him head out there alone. I owe him for helping me.”

“Great, then I’m going with you.”

“No, you stay here and watch the kids.”

“What!?” Chanteuse shouted, only to hear a few sniffling sounds coming from behind her. She turned around and saw them staring at the two of them.

“Remember the first part of the Gala Maiden code?” she asked

Chanteuse closed her eyes, and puffed out her chest. Her generous bust barely bounced within the tight confines of her gown. “No matter what evil rises against us,” the right head said. “We’ll take it down as a team,” the left one finished.

Luxure smiled, “Exactly, and in this case, being a team means splitting up. I’ll help out Drum and Avarice while you watch the children, and make sure whoever tried to shoot at us, doesn’t hit them.” She raised her right hand up in the air.

Chanteuse nodded and gave her a high five that turned into them grabbing each other’s hand, before bringing each other in close face to face. “As you wish my lady.” The two broke off with a rather flowy twirl, with Luxure running out of the temple. She saw the rather strange looking fiery wolf outside, with Avarice on her knees. She was clutching onto her wand while looking at the monster before them. Drum meanwhile was right in front of her, with his arms stretched out to shield her. She could hear him snarl, and could only imagine that his nostrils flared at the beast in front of them. The creature itself just looked so odd though. Then again, there were many odd creatures in the Buddyfight world. The wolf was currently walking back and forth on all fours. She couldn’t see any eyes on it, but it looked like it was staring at both Drum and her, with how its head moved from one of them to the other.

“Get away from my daughter!” Drum shouted, but the beast didn’t respond. It just stood up straight. It was about Drum’s height, and the Armordragon was already a good couple of feet taller than her. It looked over to Avarice, who was glaring at it. Luxure took a step forward, and the creature’s head quickly snapped back to her. It dropped down to all fours and jumped past them. Its target was now her. She felt her body shiver, but she dropped down the ground, with her back towards it, before thrusting her leg straight up at it. Catching the creature’s jaw with her dark grey boot. The moment her foot touched it though, she felt it: a searing pain ran through her leg, and it felt like if her whole body was about to catch on fire. Drum followed up by grabbing it by the tail, and slamming the monster down on the ground in one smooth motion. The two of them looked at it, as it was slowly rising to its feet. “Avarice, go inside.”

“But, you and Luxure…”

“Can handle ourselves just fine, now go!” Drum roared out. His daughter followed his command and ran inside, which left the two of them with this thing that now was standing up right with its claws bared. It raised its head up and let loose a howl. A howl that was so loud, she felt her body vibrating somewhat due to her proximity. Drum just snarled back, as he jumped straight for it, but at that moment: they heard a woman’s voice.

“I cast!” The second Drum’s fist was about to collide with the wolf’s armored face a golden grail that was almost as large as them suddenly came out from nowhere. A bright light resonated from it, and it repelled Drum right from the monster. “Holy Grail!”

“That’s a Legend World spell, but how is that being cast here?” Luxure asked. Her eyes quickly looked at the direction of the voice. Looking up showed her the one that cast that spell: A woman in a dragon half-mask was hovering in the air. “A human?”

“What’s it to you?” the woman asked. Her gaze looked over to Drum, who despite having his attack blocked: was in mid grapple with the monster. She placed her hand on top of the gem upon on her mask. “You need to get off of him, Fang Slade,” as she said that. It felt as if a cold breeze was blowing in. The harder her fingers pressed against the gem; the colder it got. Luxure held onto herself. Her body shook; it shivered and felt weaker. She could see her breath as it got colder and colder. Drum was doing his best to handle the cold, and he even managed to lock the beast into a tight choke hold. Those muscular arms of his did a good job in overpowering the beast, but the cold was starting to get to him. His own body was starting to shiver, and there was actual frost forming on his body.

“Cut the spell out now,” Drum commanded. “Or I’ll make sure your monster won’t make it out of this assault alive.” His pupils narrowed at the woman, who just responded with a smile. A smile that seemed so malicious in nature, and one that she seemed to enjoy a bit too much.

“How cute. You think you can give orders. Look around you,” she said. The grass around them was practically dead at this point, with most of it actually being covered in snow. They could even see each other’s breath as they spoke. She wanted to move, but it felt like all the strength was drained from her. “Do you really think you are in any position to bark orders at me, but fine, I’ll bring you both back to my master as frozen statues if need be!” she shouted

“L-Luxure. It’s taking all my strength to n-not let this thing go,” Drum began to stutter. Oddly enough as it grew colder, the monster he was holding onto changed in color from the fiery orange it was before; to a rather colder looking dark blue. It actually looked like some sort of stars were twinkling inside of its body now. “I got a plan though. You ready?” Was she though? It pained her to take a step forward, she didn’t want to know what was going to happen if she actually tried any serious movement, but she had to do something.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I didn’t just wake up to end up some freak’s statue!” she exclaimed.

“Such a shame. Actually, it isn’t.” She drew a card from the gem. “Impact!”

“Now Luxure!” Drum shouted as he span his body around, along with the wolf he held onto. He was building up something, and the payoff was him throwing the monster straight for the floating woman.

‘Standard Dragon World plan, just rush them,’ she thought, ‘but hey it’s an opening.’ She tried to run. It was hard, but was able to break out into a sprint. Her eyelids felt heavy though, and she didn’t know if she’d be able to capitalize on Drum’s plan, but if she got to finish whatever this Impact of hers’ was: they’d be goners. She jumped up in the air; trying to strike at the beast, but she couldn’t reach it. ‘No! I can’t, not here.’

“My lady!”

‘Chanteuse.’ Her eyes looked back for a brief moment, and there she was. Chanteuse ran right out of the temple, and straight under where she was. “Give me a boost!”

“With pleasure.” Chanteuse jumped straight up towards her. At that point she used her hands to give Luxure the last boost she needed, and launched her up higher in the air. She span around in the air with what she would call a _“dazzling display”_. One, two, and three spins she preformed in the air, before she finished things off, with a swift kick straight at the beast, which sent it careening right at the woman. The woman let out an audible grunt as her monster slammed right into her, stopping whatever she had in store for them, and knocking her down to the ground where they were. Luxure then landed on her feet, before holding her head up high as she looked at their assailants.

“Splendid work as always my lady,” Chanteuse said, as the two of them exchanged a congratulatory high five.

“I honestly couldn’t have done it without your help,” she said, before throwing her arms around her, and bringing her in close for a hug. She could see the blush on both of Chanteuse’s faces.

“I’m always glad to be of assistance.”

She broke the hug and walked over to Drum, who held out his hand. She got the message and held onto it. Both dragons tightened their grip and shook. “Thank you as well Drum, but…” she paused to look around them. Drum’s home was still somewhat of a winter wonderland, even with the woman’s impact interrupted. “How long will this last?”

“I don’t know, but first.” Drum and her broke from their handshake. All three of them walked up to the downed duo. The masked woman was already climbing out from under her monster. She slowly rose to feet, before dusting off her jacket and skirt. “Who are you and what are you doing at my home!?”

“My name is Serpentis, and I come under my master’s wish to invite you both to join up with M.A.S.K.E.R. My master seems to know you Fang Slade, and for some reason he seems to know of you as well Luxure, but I don’t need to get your answer. You’ve proven your point for now, but the invitation will still be there,” she said, before moving her hand downward, which caused a dark portal to open up. “Star Beast, let’s head back.”

“Like hell I’ll let you get away!” Chanteuse shouted, but Luxure grabbed onto her and pulled her back with them, before she could jump after Serpentis. Their assailants soon vanished into the portal; leaving the three of them outside in the cold. Luxure began to shiver once again, while Chanteuse just sighed. “Why did you stop me?”

“Because we should go back inside, and get somewhere warm until this cold spell passes. I assume that since she ran away, this weird cold summoned will go away as well,” Drum said. He turned around to start walking inside.

“How are you so fine with the cold?” Chanteuse asked. The two women though stared over his body once more. He was a muscular dragon for sure. His arms, chest, legs, and even tail were all rather fitting for a dragon as fit as him. Luxure even remembered how his muscles bulged when wrestling with Serpentis’ Star Beast monster. She felt a swelling heat in her cheeks as her eyes continued to look over his toned body. She could imagine how lucky his wife must be to have a dragon like him. To be able to rub her face against a broad chest like his, to feel her face rub against those muscles of his, with those powerful arms to wrap around her body in a loving embrace each night, and on very special nights. Oh how her mind wandered on how nights between him and his wife must have been. Making her shiver once more, but this time, it was about something more...pleasurable.

‘Mhmm, it seems my libido is still the same,’ Luxure thought while giggling to herself.

“Enjoying the view?” Drum snickered.

Chanteuse just sighed and tapped her on the shoulder, before turning her around to face her. “Check him out later. We still have more to discuss,” she said.

“Oh yeah, Drum you mentioned something before about starting out search somewhere other than Dragon World?” Luxure asked.

Drum though gestured for the two of them to come inside with him. “We’ll discuss this while in someplace warm.” She was about to follow Drum, when she felt Chanteuse grab onto her shoulder.

“Don’t let your other side fully take over Luxure,” Chanteuse said, both heads for once shared the same serious emotional state, and a stern gaze. “Be careful please my lady.” Both heads said in unison.

“C-Chanteuse, do you really think I’d really let that happen?” She watched as Chanteuse walked past her and into the temple. She sighed, and looked up into the sky. ‘One day, I’ll find you again my friend. I’ll get stronger so that I can unseal you.’ She rubbed the back of her head, before thinking back to Drum. ‘Actually, you’d probably love to meet Drum. He seems like your type.’ Luxure giggled to herself for a moment. ‘Still though, who was that monster, and what does this Serpentis and her master want with Drum and me?’

“Hey Luxure!” Avarice shouted from the temple’s open entrance. She looked over to the young dragoness, who was currently waving at her. “Come on inside. You don’t want to freeze right?” She actually kind of forgot about the cold. Her thoughts and desires distracted her. She stared at Avarice. She looked so sweet, yet something about that triangular pointed snout seemed familiar. Like she’s seen it somewhere before, and on another dragon. She was Drum’s daughter, so some her looks of course would come from her mother, but it seems like most of her looks came from her.

“I’ll be in there, thanks.” She said. Avarice didn’t move though. An act that made her smile. ‘How sweet,’ she thought. She walked up to Avarice, and ruffled her hair again, which made her pout right at her, but Avarice gave her a hug.

“Thanks for helping my dad,” she said while looking up to her.

“You’re welcome, but I didn’t do much. He did most of the work.” The two of them stared at each for a few moments, before they laughed to one another while walking back inside into the warm confines that was Drum’s temple.


	3. Bows and Unicorns, Athena and Meglax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luxure's memories bring about some discomfort, but maybe Chanteuse and some new friends can help her. Meanwhile, it seems that their previous assailants have some new plans.

_“Why are you here!?” a booming voice asked. She looked up at the direction of the voice, but saw nothing. “What’s the matter weakling? Can’t speak? Why are you here!?” It felt like her body was being blown away, but she had to say something. She came this far, and she wasn’t going to back down now._

_“I seek enlistment! Your Darkness Dragon World army could help me find the answers I seek!”_

_“Could help? First, there is no could. The dragons under my control are some the strongest around. If they can’t help you, then no one can, and second, do you think I just let any dragon join my army!?”_

_She felt something lifting her up. She glared at nothing while squirming in the grasp of whatever monster this was. Her large clawed feet kicked at the air while she continued her futile efforts to escape the invisible grasp of the monster. The nostrils from her more feral looking dragon snout flared as she tried to sniff the creature out, but nothing came of it. All she could smell was the same awful fragrances that Darkness Dragon World had at times, but it seems her sources were right. Whatever this creature was, it must be stronger than a Demon Lord, so maybe it could grant her wish. “I-I-I can show you that I’m a worthy solider for your army.”_

_“My soldiers don’t stammer, dragoness! Although, I can tell you are after something else,” she heard him laughing. Her whole body trembled from the vibrations caused by it. “To get what you want, you may have to give up something important, but I don’t know if you are even worth it.” He dropped her, watching as she barely managed to land on her feet safety_

_“Please let me join you!” She got on her knees and clasped her hands together, as she begged. “I need this!”_

_“Come back with me then. I’ll take you to the arena. If you fail, well, then there won’t be anything left of you anyway.” She was then lifted off within seconds. “Come on…Luxure.”_

***

“Luxure!” Avarice shouted, as she jumped onto her bed: abruptly waking the dragoness from slumber.

She let loose a very faint snarl. Not wanting the younger dragon to hear her displeasure, as she knew that Avarice was just being her usual friendly self. She reached over to the bouncing dragoness, and rubbed her head. “Good morning Avarice,” she said. Her head turned over to look out the opening in her room that served as a window. At least, it allowed her to see how good the outside of Drum’s temple looks now that the ice and snow has melted away. The green grass returned, and some of the flowers have begun to bloom once more. Even some of the other children were playing around outside now: chasing, sparring, and just finding ways to enjoy the bright sunny day. She turned her head back and stared at the ceiling above her.

Although, another voice from right next to her made her chuckle. “Does the child have to come in this early in the morning while we are sleeping?” Chanteuse asked from under the covers.

“Do you have to sleep in the same bed as her?” Avarice asked.

Chanteuse’s left head rose up from under the covers and growled at her. “Of course, we are the lady’s second in command, her most trusted guardian. We couldn’t let her sleep alone after they tried to assassinate her!” The right one peeked out from under shortly after. “Sorry about that, but we aren’t…morning monsters.” She yawned, “As you can clearly see.”

“How’s your father doing?” Luxure asked

“He’s currently at a special place in our temple. Apparently, it has something to do with what he wanted to talk to you about.” She hopped off the bed and waved at the two women. “I’m glad you got to spend the night with us, even if we didn’t get to do much.”

Luxure rose up a bit, and waved at her while still using the covers to remain somewhat decent. Last thing she wanted was for her to see the two them in such a state of undress. “Don’t worry. If your parents will have me back, we can play then. Heck, I’ll make sure that the Gala Maiden’s put on a personal show for what Drum and you did.” The two of them smiled at one another while Chanteuse shoved her faces into the pillow. Groaning right into it, as she tried to go back to sleep.

“She okay?” Avarice asked.

“I’m fine,” both heads exclaimed in unison. “We’ll be glad to perform for you all.” Her words were all muffled by the pillow.

“Huh?”

“She said we’ll be happy to,” Luxure said while she watched Avarice bound off outside. She turned over to Chanteuse and pet the demonic dog’s twin heads with both hands. Eliciting a softer sounding murr from both of them. “You know we need to get going right?”

“Five more minutes please.” Her words were still muffled as she shoved her face further into the pillow. “I was having the best dream.” She sounded like she was about to moan, “And I’d like to go back to it.” She giggled.

“Tell you what, you go ahead. I’m going to go see Drum then.” She said while throwing off her portion of the covers. She stretched her arms up and over her head. “I should have asked Avarice where the bath is.”

“Mhmm,” Chanteuse mumbled into the pillow. Luxure turned to look at her, before giving her heads another pat each.

She turned over to the wall where their dresses were hanging up. She took a deep breath, and placed a hand on her chest. The feeling of being able to actually feel her body responding to inhaling was something she didn’t think she’d ever miss. Although, could she really say that she missed it, if she had no idea what was going on while she was in her coma. Her eyes looked over to admire Chanteuse’s sleeping form. ‘With only the two of us. Forming the Gala Maidens again will be rough. Maybe if we could find Athena, then we could try. At least then, there would be three of us.’ She grabbed onto her dress. Running her hand across the silken fabric made her sigh. ‘Was what I did back then right?’ She then ran that same hand through her mane of hair. Making sure to pull out any knots she may have had.

_‘Don’t let your other side fully take over Luxure.’_

She grit her teeth and snarled to herself while slipping on her dress. ‘It has to be right, I’m a true Demon Lord Dragon now.’ She clenched her hand into a fist.

_‘You see, being a Demon Lord isn’t an easy thing, and not many monsters can really call themselves that. Pretty much all of us are either demons, or have demonic ancestry.’_ A male’s voice ran through her head. She could picture his face now: His pink skin, and that shit eating grin that he’d love to show off, whenever he’d say something he’d found funny. _‘Yo don’t feel so down girl. Sometimes it’s better to chillax and deal with what you got! Am I right!? Hahaha!’_ Luxure’s fist slammed against the wall. The impact caused the entire room to shake. Startling Chanteuse, as both of her heads shot up.

“What’s going on!?” the right one asked. “Has that idiotic human returned!?” The left one snarled while they both scanned the room in a panic.

She stared at them and sighed. “Sorry about that.” Both Chanteuse and her stared at some of the rubble that was now on the ground, before turning their attention to the rather large hole in the wall. She cracked her knuckles while Chanteuse just gulped. They just stared at one another. She felt her eyes narrowing at the Orthrus. Averting her angered gaze once she saw Chanteuse’s eyes widen at what happened.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m…uneasy right now.” She sat back down on the bed. Chanteuse sat up and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Leaning in to rest one of her heads on her; once she got a good hold. The act of which made her rest her own head on top of Chanteuse’s.

“Vanity getting to you?”

“No. It was _him_.” Her head vibrated from the sounds of Chanteuse’s growling. “You don’t even know which him it could be.”

“I don’t need to know. Considering this is you, there is only one _him_ it could be.” She felt her friend’s palms being planted on either side of her face, before pulling it to stare directly at hers’.

“He’s gone my lady, and there is nothing you should worry about involving that demon anymore.”

“I still wish I told the others at least about this.” She tried to look down, but every time her eyes moved just a tiny bit away from her; Chanteuse shifted her focus right back.

“You should have, but you didn’t, and you can’t change that. Besides, he’s gone! His influence over Darkness Dragon World is gone now, and we won’t have to worry about A—”

Chanteuse’s words were cut off by loud banging at their door. “What’s going on!? Is everything alright!?”

“Drum,” Luxure said, as she yanked herself away from her, and ran towards the door. She cracked the door open a jar. It was just enough to see Drum’s snout poking through into their room.

“I heard a loud noise coming from your room. It woke the kids up, so I came over.”

“Why thank yo—”

“You all better have a good reason though for making so much noise!” He shouted at them. Chanteuse threw the sheet over herself, as Luxure just let out a nervous sounding giggle.

“I just had a bit of a bad dream that’s all. Sorry Drum.” She scratched at her cheek with the tip of clawed hand while swaying from left to right.

“We also owe you a new wall,” Chanteuse said from beneath the sheets.

“WHAT!”

“I’m sorry Drum!” Luxure exclaimed while backing off from the door. He pushed it opened. His jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the hole.

He looked back at them and shook his head. “Mind explaining?”

“It was just a bad dream, and it reminding me of something.” She turned away from the wreckage that she caused.

Drum squatted and picked up one of the rock chunks, before turning back to face her. “I’d hate to be the something that you remembered if that’s the case.” He stood up and stared back at her. “I was going to show you something important, but it can wait.”

“For what?” both women asked in unison.

“Repairing the wall,” he said while walking out of the room. “I’ll be right back, then I’ll let you know what I want you both to do for me, and only after everything has been fixed, then I’ll show you what I had planned.”

Once the door was slammed shut; Chanteuse poked her heads back out from under the sheets, and sighed. “Well, that’s a great start to the day.”

“Sorry about that.” Luxure leaned against the door.

Chantuese kicked the sheets off of her, as she looked over to her dress. “I might as well get dressed at this point.” She climbed out of bed, and slowly made her way towards her ballroom gown. “The next time we plan on staying anywhere else for an extended period of time. Might I suggest different clothes?”

“Really now? You usually aren’t the type to want the Gala Maidens to change their attire,” she said.

Chanteuse carefully shook out her dress. “True, but we also would usually stay at our old place,” she said while getting into her gown. “N-Now though—” she paused while struggling to get both of her heads through the hole. Eventually, she was successful; both of her heads popped right through the hole, as she gave her body a bit of a wiggle to get readjusted. “We have no home. Our place sort of well, vanished after that day.”

She raised a brow. “I thought you said you don’t remember what happened?”

“I don’t,” she said. “I just know our home is gone. It was the last thing I remembered of that day.”

“That would have been nice to tell Drum!” she shouted.

“He didn’t ask about our home, so I felt that was unneeded information.” Chanteuse crossed her arms.

“The Gala Maidens are supposed to be honest.” She took a step closer to her.

“We felt uneasy,” both heads said in unison.

“But you can trust Drum.”

“I believe you, but I didn’t want him trying to have us stay longer than we need too.”

She sighed, and began to rub her forehead.

“Listen, I’m sorry.” The right head said. “Same here,” the left one spoke up. “We were just nervous, plus I really just feel weird when someone other than one of the Gala Maidens offers their assistance to us.”

“Chanteuse, you should know that other monsters mean well. Even the ones in your world can be helpful.”

“Regardless, what does Drum want to show us anyway?”

“I still don’t know.” Luxure scratched her head for a few seconds, before folding her arms across her chest. Doing so under her large bust. “He did mention that we should start our search somewhere other than Dragon World, so maybe he’s going to show us a good place to start.”

“I’d say Magic World personally. If I’m around, then maybe Athena will be as well.”

She felt her eyes widen, as if they were lighting up. She rushed over to her grabbed onto her shoulders. “Do you really think so!?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Vanity didn’t say much about them, but Athena was our other general. Plus, that Unicorn is hard to keep down.” She snickered.

“Wait though, you did say Magic World though right?”

“Of course I did. It is her home world after all.”

She could practically hear his voice again. _‘Sometimes it’s better to chillax and deal with what you got! Hahaha!’_ She shook her head. Hoping that would make her forget about him. “Maybe Magic World isn’t the best place to start?”

“How so? Magic World has a lot of great books for us to study from, and with it being Athena’s home world. It would be the best spot to look for her. Also, Asmod—”

“Don’t bring up that name!” She shouted. Chanteuse leaned back a bit. She held onto her arm and looked down. “S-Sorry. I—”

“I forgot about your meeting with him. You said he was nice though?”

“He is nice, and means well, but I just don’t…want to believe what he said.”

“You proved him wrong didn’t you?” Chanteuse shrugged.

“Not exactly. I managed to become a Demon Lord, but it’s just the fact he also mentioned that those that try to become demons. Lose something important inside when they do, and that it comes with a big risk.”

She felt Chanteuse’s arm drape over her shoulder again. “He’s not wrong.”

“Thanks,” she said sarcastically.

“He isn’t though. Making deals with demons can lead to problems. _You_ of all monsters should know that, and the more powerful the demon, the heavier the cost.”

“B-But I broke free.”

“Your cost wasn’t the same, and you know that.” Chanteuse brought her into a hug. Wrapping her arms around her, and keeping her held tight. “Regardless, I’ll be there to help you. Just like you there for me, in some of Darkness Dragon World’s worse hours. When that Demonic Dragon ruled.”

She returned the favor, and wrapped her arms around Chanteuse. She wanted to be happy like she was before. Moping sucked, but there was just so much unknown. She grit her teeth, before feeling Chanteuse tighten the hug even more. “Thank you,” she whispered into her ear.

“You’re welcome. Like we said, the leader of the Gala Maidens doesn’t brood. At least, not the leader we know.” The two of them stared at one another, before they both began to laugh. Luxure lifted her up and spun her around a bit in the air, before letting her down to the ground. The two then shifted their stance to the closed position, with Luxure taking the lead. “Oh, why thank you.” The two smirked at one another, before beginning their dance. Even though there was no music, she could picture it in her head. It was to the point, where she could hum the tune off memory alone, as the two began their waltz in the small room. While it wasn’t that much space; they would make due for at least this moment. The two were able to glide along the floor just like before. Each and every turn, reverse turn, and step was embedded into her at this point. “Just like back in the training halls huh?” Luxure said nothing. Her eyes closed, as she danced with her. She could almost picture the opulent hall: the crowds of monsters clapping, and the light centered on them, as she glided across the reflective floor. The sound of various string instruments playing to match their movements. All eyes on them: bodies shoved against one another, arms wrapped around each other, hips swaying in just the right motions, and hands exploring every curvature of their…“Luxure?” Her eyes shot open. Chanteuse was currently dipped rather low, with her hand currently cupping onto the Orthrus’ ass. Their lips were currently so close to touching that she could feel the warm breath from Chanteuse’s right head, and the left head just stared in bewilderment. Their cheeks were a bright red in color, but they didn’t look away. “M-My lady.”

“S-Sorry,” she said. She helped pull her back up, before letting go. Chanteuse’s heads turned away while she fidgeted in place. “I didn’t mean that.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. Luxure nodded, before walking towards the door. “Do you remember what I—”

“Let’s just pretend that didn’t happen.” She turned around and smiled at her. “I thank you for the dance.” 

The door nearly sideswipe her, as Drum stepped inside. A rolled up piece of parchment was in one hand, and a large bag. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I need to get working on repairing the wall.” He looked at her, then at Chanteuse. He tilted his head at how antsy she seemed. Her hips were wiggling and her arms refused to stay still. “Are you alright?” he asked Chanteuse.

“F-Fine,” the right head said. “Let’s just get this wall fixed,” the left one followed up. Neither of them looked at her though. It felt like something was turning in her stomach. That same feeling was starting to spread to her chest, as she swung her leg back and forth.

“I want you both to go pick up these supplies.” Drum handed Luxure the parchment. “Some fresh air will do you girls good. Although—” he paused. His eyes shifted from her and Chanteuse. They seemed to focus more so on what they were wearing than their faces. “I also have some different clothes for you both to wear.” He dropped the bag on the ground. “After all, I can’t really have you girls wandering around Dragon World dressed like that.” He coughed into his hand. Chanteuse’s heads shook, as she just messed around with her dress.

“What’s wrong with our current attire?” Luxure asked.

“It’s not Dragon World attire,” Drum bluntly stated. “You girls need new outfits if you are going to walk around Dragon World, and that I took care of for you both.”

“In one night?” Chanteuse asked.

“You’d be surprised how used to this I am.” Drum walked out of the room, waving goodbye at them as he did so. “Let me know when you girls got changed.” He said before closing the door.

Luxure untied the string keeping the bag closed. “Maybe we shouldn’t have stayed,” Chanteuse said. Inside the bag was: some breastplate that looked a bit shorter than normal, as if it the cut was low, a long skirt, and some armored greaves, with all three of these things being a dark blue in color, with a black trim to each. If there was something else in the bag, it was obscured by the armor. “I don’t see what’s so wrong? Even if we don’t fit in, we aren’t a part of Dragon World.”

“You aren’t,” Luxure said as she pulled out the breastplate first. “I am though.”

“Did you wear such attire?” Chanteuse’s eyes went wide as Luxure pulled her dress up and over her head. The dragoness wiggled her voluptuous hips, not really caring if she was giving Chanteuse a show. “O-Oh,” Chanteuse muttered under her breath. Luxure threw her dress over Chanteuse’s faces, which made her fidget. Her hands grabbed onto it and tossed it onto the bed. Luxure bent down. She could practically feel Chanteuse’s eyes focusing her raised ass, covered by her jet black lacy panties. This wasn’t something new, and it was always quite fun to tease her. She thrust her ass up and down. Making sure to take her time in just removing the armor from the bag. Her tail curled up and gestured for her to come over, but she didn’t hear the Orthrus moving. 

‘Not bad, you seem to be getting better,’ she thought, a sigh came from her right after. ‘Much to my dismay.’ She grabbed onto the breastplate and pulled it out. Chanteuse’s left head was turned away, with the right one just covering her eyes. She giggled, and bounced up just enough to give her tits a rather healthy looking bounce. The rather small lacy black bra surprisingly did a good job in supporting them, something that the left head was seeing, as a blush crossed its face. “What’s wrong Chanteuse?” she teased, giving her tits another shake. “Don’t tell me you are getting flustered already?” She giggled.

“Considering what just happened before Drum showed up, I’m surprised you are so willing to do this?” Chanteuse stood up and bent down into the bag. “What was going on with that by the way?” Luxure sighed as she slipped on the breastplate. Much to her surprise, sliding it over her head was a lot easier than her previous attire, and even more surprising, it managed to fit perfectly around her chest. Although, she couldn’t jiggle them. A fact that made her sigh and hold her head down.

“I kind of wish that this wasn’t regular armor. Now how am I supposed to tease my opponents?”

“Luxure, about my question?” Chanteuse asked while pulling out a rather thick looking dark green ranger’s cloak. The buttons were already undone. She took her time in rubbing her fingers against the fabric. “A blouse cloak combo huh? Not bad.”

“I-I, rather not talk about it.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Chanteuse asked while tossing the cloak on the bed.

“It’s embarrassing.” She examined the damaged wall, before grabbing the long skirt from the bag. It was rather nice that he was able to get clothes that fit her body. Did her wife have a similar figure, or did he just have an eye for this? Unlike her breastplate, this allowed for a lot more movement. Being able to shake her hips and watch the skirt move back and forth was great. “I was just really enjoying our dance. It felt as if we were back at our old castle, and everyone was watching us. Their staring, it felt so…good.” The word good was gasped out in a breathy tone, as she turned to stare at her.

“Did you know that your hands were moving so close to my—”

“I’m sorry Chanteuse. Such an act was unfitting a Demon Lord like myself.” She puffed out her chest and placed a hand right on it.

“There’s that hint of the old Luxure.” She giggled. Chanteuse pulled out some jet black pants, and some armored steel boots. “Mhmm, not bad. Although, I still think my gown is much better.” She looked back to Luxure, “Can you tell me more though. You know, about what was going on, and about why you were getting a bit…handsy?”

She turned her head away while donning her greaves. “The rest of it was still rather embarrassing, so I don’t know what else to say.”

Chanteuse shook her heads, but there was still a hint of a smile from her. “Just don’t forget about what I told you yesterday.” She pulled her gown over her head, before tossing it on the bed.

Luxure fidgeted in place. Gently scratching her cheek with the tip of her clawed hand, as she tried to think of something to say. “There is something that I really want to do now though.”

“Oh? What is that?” Chanteuse asked, pulling up her new pants. Due to her more bottom heavy figure, they took a while to pull up. Thankfully it seemed like it was much easier for her to put on and button up the cloak.

She smacked her palm against her breastplate. A metallic banging sound made her smirk. “I want to find that masked figure, and kick his sorry ass for what he did to us, and our home!”

“Ha! I knew you were in there somewhere.” Chanteuse giggled. “You know. I was thinking about that weird Serpentis woman. What are the odds that someone in Dragon World may know of her?”

“Unlikely,” she said while walking over to the door. “Regardless, the two of us will figure something out!” She flashed Chanteuse a toothy yet confident grin.

There was a knock at the door. “Hey, you girls done yet?” Drum asked.

“Yes, we’ll be out in a few moments.”

***

Serpentis sighed, as dusted off her jacket. The cool breeze of Dragon World air did very little to calm her nerves. Failing was already enough of an embarrassment, but now she had to return back to her master. She scowled at no one in particular, the blades of grass moving in between her toes made things even worse. She would have to return. Her master would suspect something if she didn’t, but just imagining Dune’s smug face if she came back empty handed made her skin crawl. ‘That ignorant fighter wouldn’t let me live it down,’ she thought, turning her head to the side to see her monster sleeping on the grass. “Come on girl, we need to get going.” She tapped the creature with her boot. Trying to shake it as best as she could, but it didn’t work. The monster rolled over and was still out like a light. Serpentis plopped down and stared at the village below. So many dragons were out: shopping, talking amongst themselves, or just whatever they could do to enjoy the day today.

“Well howdy there.” A male’s voice came from behind her.

‘Oh no it couldn’t be.’ She refused to turn around. Maybe if she didn’t look at him he would go away. Although, turning him to a frozen sculpture actually sounded a bit more fun. It would make up for her previous failure. Well, not to her master, but it would make *her* feel better.

“Come on now, is that anyway to treat a friend?” Dune asked.

“…”

He sighed. “Hello to you too,” he said. She soon saw him standing right in front of her, with his hands on his hips, as offered her a hand. “Mind telling me what is going on?”

She reached over and nudged her monster.

Dune grunted while folding his hands behind his head. “Earth to Serpentis!” he exclaimed.

“Shut up.” She playful scratched the monster’s cheek. There was a yawn coming from it, as it slowly awoke. Shaking its whole body like a dog as it did so, before rising to its feet. “Star Beast, let’s head out for now.

“Wait a second, are you really just going to ignore me!?” he shouted.

“There’s a monster called Luxure,” she said while petting her companion. “You can’t miss her. She stands out like a sore thumb amongst these dragons. She’ll have an Orthrus with her most likely. If you find them, bring them back.” She hopped onto the back of the Star Beast. Dune’s dumbfounded expression made her smirk. “If you do, I’ll put in a good word for you.”

“W-Wait what do you mean? I’m here to bring you back, how can *you* put in a good word for _me_? Also, what the heck is an Orthus?” 

“A two headed dog,” she stated bluntly, “And just bring her back. I have some important business to take care of for the master. Desperado is with you right?” Her gaze shifted downward, as a tall white scaled dragon was walking up next to Dune: a large black cowboy hat, a dusty brown windbreaker coat, and dark grey pants and cowboy boots complete with spurs. He looked straight out of some spaghetti western. 

The dragon kept his hands in his pockets while staring right at her. “Yeah I’m with him.” Even his voice and inflections seemed to fit the sort of cowboy motif this dragon had going for him. “Don’t worry, we’ll find this dragoness, and make sure she comes back with us.” He adjusted his shirt collar. “After all—”

Dune chimed in for his monster, “Diplomacy was never your strong suit.” He snickered.

She rolled her eyes at them, before riding off. The last thing she left them with, was the most mocking smile she could muster.

***

Both of Chanteuse’s heads sighed. The left one looked down at the young dragoness walking alongside of them. Luxure looked behind her to see Avarice’s hands were in the pockets of her dark red robe. The both of them looked at all the dragons shopping at the market stalls Most of which were food stalls, with each one trying to convince the customers that their particular goods were better than whatever the other was selling. She kind of wish she could stay and watch the peddlers battle each other. There was just some entertaining about it. Something that made her giggle. Despite this, some also sold: weapons, armors, and repair services. They just needed to find a stall selling general home repair goods. “Thanks for letting me join you both,” Avarice said.

“It’s always nice to have you with us,” she said.

“I don’t get how you can say that, as we barely know her,” Chanteuse’s left head spoke out.

“Well then—” Avarice paused, waving at a few of the red dragons that walked past them. They flashed them smiles, with Chanteuse simply waving her hand at the two strangers. “What do you want to know?”

Avarice and Chanteuse’s conversation started to sound harder to listen too. It was as if they sounded like they were fading off. ‘I’m just glad Dragon World looks as bustling as ever,’ she thought. ‘To think that at some point this place was almost destroyed by…no,’ she gently smacked her cheek. She took extra care to make sure that it didn’t draw the attention of anyone walking near them. Although, this didn’t stop her from almost bumping into a few of the dragons. ‘I can’t think of that. He couldn’t have done that. Well…he had the power, but he would never do such a thing. I wonder though…maybe there’s a chance he ran into Vanity as well. Would he bring him back as he did for Chanteuse and me?’ She looked back at Avarice and Chanteuse. The Orthrus leaned down and glared at the smiling young dragoness. ‘I should have asked him.’ Soon, she found herself listening back in on their discussion.

“My dad’s a great warrior!” Avarice proclaimed, with her hands on her hips.

“_Was_, a great warrior. The Bunker Dragon family is strong, but there are far stronger monsters out there,” Chanteuse quipped back. Trying to listen in on their conversation while also trying to find the right stall was a bit difficult to manage. It was to a point that she wanted to just stop to tell them to hold off their conversation until after they buy their supplies, but what Avarice said next was a bit too good to stop.

“Oh really? How many Dragons can you say defeated gods?” Luxure looked back and stopped.

“Wait really?” she asked, taking note that a few dragons were staring at them. She shielded one side of her face with one hand while looking away from some of the onlookers.

“Of course he did!” Avarice puffed out her chest. “Plus the Bunker Dragon family is one of the most revered dragon clans in Dragon World.”

“I can think of a few others,” Chanteuse said.

“How would you know?”

Chanteuse tilted her left head, as her right one just shook back and forth. Both of her arms were folded across her chest. “I know a few things about Dragon World.”

“Oh really, then you must know one of the deities that my father beat was the infamous Azi Dahaka!”

She dropped her hand once that name was mentioned. “Wait?” She couldn’t quite muster the ability to actually stare at Avarice after that. She grabbed onto her left arm and felt her body fidgeting. “Really?” she asked.

The Orthrus shook in place. Her hands balled into fists, as both heads growled. “You’re a liar.” Chanteuse stepped closer to her. She walked closer to Chanteuse and placed a hand on her chest in an attempt to keep her back. “There is no way, he could defeat him!” Chanteuse shouted.

“Well he did, and he also defeated the great Yami—”

“Why don’t we change the subject,” Luxure said. She pointed at the various civilians around them. Some of them tapped their feet, and a few leered at Chanteuse. “We are making a scene.”

“Oh don’t worry,” Avarice said, smiling at the few onlookers before waving at them.

She covered her face, as Chanteuse sighed. “Whatever, I still think you’re a liar young one, but we’ll finish this discussion later.” She stomped past the both of them. Her left head glared at the leering dragons, which caused a few of them to step forward.

“Sorry, sorry!” Luxure exclaimed, as she stood in front of them.

“Yeah, she’s just unfamiliar with Dragon World customs that’s all.”

“Doesn’t quite excuse her attitude,” one of the dragons said.

“Yeah, she needs to learn the proper way to treat children,” another one spoke up.

“She’s had a rough day,” Luxure said.

“Avarice, maybe you shouldn’t go running your mouth so quickly,” a new voice said. Walking past the canine and her was a green scaled dragon. He raised his green hat and cleared his throat. He narrowed his eyes, before shifting his attention over to the men in front of him. “There’s nothing to see here,” his tone was somewhat soft. If he was going to try and help, speaking like this was not a good way to do so, but for some reason: they nodded at him and walked off. Luxure scratched her head, as Chanteuse looked back. He adjusted the bow on his back, before he squatted down just a bit, so that he’d be at eye level with Avarice.

“Speaking of stronger Dragons,” Chanteuse said. Luxure meanwhile just stared at him: his long brown hair looked so sleek, the large red plume on the back of his hat, the golden horns on the sides of his head, and along with his green cape, golden armor and rather noticeable swimmers build; provided a nice regal look to his whole appearance.

‘He’d make a wonderful Gala Maiden,’ she thought.

“What’s a Fifth Omni Cavalry Dragon doing out here?” Chanteuse asked. “Shouldn’t you be somewhere else?”

The green dragon stood up and cleared his throat. “This is uncle Meglax!” Avarice exclaimed.

He snickered, “I told you to not go calling me that.” She scratched her cheek.

_’Fifth Omni’_: the name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, and the name sounded rather important as well. She extended her hand to him. He held onto it and the two shook hands. “My pleasure.”

“Can you answer my question?” Chanteuse’s right head asked. “What, exactly is a Fifth Omni Cavalry Dragon doing out here anyway?”

Meglax shook his head, “I’m not allowed to say. That’s for me and the others to know.”

“Typical,” Chanteuse spat out.

“You mentioned about stronger groups Chanteuse, is this who you were talking about?” she asked.

“Yeah,” She said. Meglax placed a hand on Avarice’s head and smiled.

“You really are your father’s child. Anyway, it may be better to not go around bragging.” He said.

Avarice pouted, as she walked over to her. “I don’t see the problem. Chanteuse was denying his strength, so I thought I’d brag a bit. Besides—”

“Nothing’s wrong with a bit of showboating right?” Luxure giggled. Meglax sighed.

“Who is she?” he asked.

“That information is classified,” Chanteuse snapped back.

“This is Luxure! She’s a friend of mine!”

“I just said that information is classified,” Chanteuse said, with her left head gritting its teeth.

She looked back to the Orthrus, “Chanteuse stop please.” She placed a hand on her shoulder, before turning back to Meglax. “I do apologize for that.”

“No need. She reminds me a friend of mine.”

“I have a question for you though,” she said.

“Go ahead.”

“Do you know of a strange masked monster?”

He held onto the underside of his snout. “That’s rather vague. I’d need more information.”

“It wore a court jester’s mask, and had a rather human appearance…I think,” she said, scratching her head.

Meglax shook his head. “Sorry, but I have no idea about that.”

“What about a weird human girl wearing a dragon mask,” Chanteuse said. That seemed to get a reaction out of Meglax: His eyes seemed to have widened, and his head shifted focus to Chanteuse in an instant. “She had some sort of fiery wolf by her side.” Both of Chanteuse’s heads smirked.

He cleared his throat. “Sorry, but I can’t say anything.”

“Aww why?” Avarice asked.

“Let me guess, that information is classified?” she asked. Meglax nodded.

Luxure smirked, as she sauntered up to him while wiggling her hips. She leaned closer to him; her breastplate pressed right against his chest, as she stared right at into his eyes. “Oh really?” She giggled. His cheeks turned a faint shade of pink; his body leaned away from her, as she placed a hand on his shoulder. She licked her lips and whispered into what qualified as ears for a dragon, “Are you sure that you couldn’t tell some sweet ladies some of that information?” she teased, wiggling her hips as she winked at him. She flipped her mane of hair back while batting her eye lashes at him. She could feel a bit of heat coming from him as he just stared at her. She batted her eyelashes and flashed him a sultry smirk. “Please.”

He shook his head while rubbing the back of his head. “S-Sorry, but no.” He pulled away from her and cleared his throat. “It’s not that we don’t care, but—”

“But we were attacked by that same masked woman at our home,” Avarice interrupted. Meglax squatted back down to look right at Avarice. “Please, if you know anything, can you tell us?”

“We don’t have enough information to actually talk about this, but if we find out anything, we’ll let you know.” He stood up, “And as for you…Luxure was it?” He dusted off his armor; his cheeks were still a light shade of pink. “I’d like if you not try to get information out of me in such a manner again.” 

She giggled and puffed out her chest while giving him a wink. “Oh heavens I don’t know what you possible could mean?”

He snickered, “Cheeky, but that attitude of yours doesn’t change your rather…odd methods. Regardless, I didn’t know someone had a hit on you?”

“We didn’t know it either,” Chanteuse chimed in. “Apparently Bunker Dragon, and her were wanted for some weird group. “I’d ask you about it, but I assume you wouldn’t tell us much on it.”

“You assume correctly,” he said.

“What if other monsters are targeted as well?” Luxure asked.

“Is that why you are here Uncle…oops! I mean Meglax.”

He nodded. “Basically. Doble and I are checking around to see what we can find. We don’t know much about them though. Although, now knowing that Drum and her were targeted does make me worried for the other civilians. Drum is capable of handling himself easily. I’m not so sure about the other denizens.”

Chanteuse giggled. “Are you telling me that Dragon World monsters have gotten soft over the years?”

“Not at all,” he said. “It’s just that certain monsters are stronger than others.” The sound of a loud almost booming _THUD!_ Got their attention. “Case in point, right now.” He looked over at the direction of the sound, before running off.

“Let’s go girls,” Luxure said while following right behind him.

“Wait for me!” Avarice held onto the bottom of her robe while following her.

Chanteuse sighed as she followed them.

The three of them followed Meglax. Luxure took the lead while Avarice and Chanteuse were right behind. Meglax was rather fast. Being able to outpace the three of them rather easily. The soles of Luxure’s clawed feet slammed against the floor, as her tail whipped from left to right. Her long mane of hair blew in the breeze while her eyes shifted from left to right. Some civilians were either focused on their daily routines, or walking towards the sound of the commotion, which was becoming easier to hear: two voices, one was a male, and the other was a woman. A very familiar sounding woman. Her tone wasn’t as breathy and hoity as hers’, or as regal as Chanteuse’s. “That’s what he gets! He wanted a fight, so he got it!” She had a raucous sounding voice at the moment. Something that made Luxure feel uneasy.

“Did you hear—”

“Yes I did my lady,” Chanteuse’s right head interrupted while her left head snarled. “I hope she’s alright.”

“Who?” Avarice asked as she almost tripped over her own tail.

Both women sighed, “Athena.”

They then saw Meglax dive past some of the crowd into an inn.

Soon the girls caught up to the speedy ranger. Luxure pushed through. A few of the civilians stressed things like: _”Hey watch it!”_ and _”We were here first, wait your turn!”_ She noticed that Chanteuse decided to stand right outside of the inn. After all, she could just look in through the window and see what was going on inside. Something, she should have noticed before, but getting inside was more important. Avarice decided to poke her head right in between the dragons to look inside through the open doorway, but what Luxure saw made her cheeks feel flushed.

A human was on the floor: out cold. Their pristine silver armor did very little to protect from the blow to the face he received, as evident by the huge shiner he was sporting on his left eye. The regalia on his rather lavish armor was proof of his status as one of the dragon knights, and the elegant golden trim just confirmed her suspicions. Standing right next to his fallen ally was another dragon knight most likely, as shown by his more human body shape. His body was much more protected; covered in his own silver armor, except his looked far more polished than his friend. She could practically see her reflection in it. She took this chance to fluff up her hair. ‘Much better,’ she thought to herself. Although, the knight scoffed at her and tried to walk away from her. She changed her focus to the bipedal light pink unicorn standing above the downed man, with two red Armordragons holding onto her: one in some sort of odd looking blue and gold armored long coat that had rather large spiked sleeves and white pants. The second had nothing covering his broad chest. Instead sporting some spaulders on both his shoulders and on his forearms, and some sort of armored leggings that barely did the job of being leggings, with how it looked like they only covered the front of his lower body, she could only wonder if he had anything covering the back, or at least, hope he did. Both of these dragons held onto one of the Unicorn’s arms, as they kept her held back. The sight of her hooves squirming in the air almost made her giggle, but she had to hold it back. At least, until she finds out if that guy was alright. The unicorn’s long mane was kind of a mess: it was rather unkempt, with the exception of the hair at the side of her head, which curled upward rather nicely. Into what looked like some sort of hair horns on either side of her head. She was dressed much like how they were before they got their new outfits: a ballroom gown; complete with a large skirt. Hers’ was snow white in color, which really clashed with the sheer look of anger she had her face.

She whinnied “Let me go guys, I’m not done with him yet!” She shouted. She couldn’t help but just stare at the unicorn. Those light blue eyes of hers' were glaring down at him, as if he was going to just get up. The constant draconic murmurs around them seemed to make her smirk. While the large red horned dragon on her left just shook his head.

“You’ve proved your point already,” he said. The knight that was left standing picked up the downed man.

Meglax raised a brow at the six of them. “Burn Guts, what’s going on?”

“Standard bar fight.” He looked down to the Unicorn and then back to Meglax with a grin on his face. “It’s just that our temperamental friend here was involved instead.”

“She lacks any self-control, which is rather fitting due to the dragons she keeps for company,” the knight scoffed.

Meglax sighed. The green dragon placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Not a good thing to say considering the audience around us.” He snickered, before smacking the armored knight on his back. Both of them looked at the two leering dragons. Their hands looked like they were beginning to “slip”. The Unicorn felt their fingers slipping, which made a rather vicious looking grin start to form. Luxure walked up behind the knight and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Please apologize to the dragons here for that statement, because you won’t like what’ll happen to you.” She gestured back with her thumb. It wasn’t just the two red Armordragons who were peeved: some of the dragons who actually looked at them had a few stares of their own; most of which, were anger, others were just sheer curiosity at the gall that the dragon knight had. She wished that she could actually see his face. Was he afraid, worried, or something else? He grabbed onto the downed dragon knight as he lifted him up.

“I have nothing to say. That brutish woman attacked Sir Georgios just for a mere comment he stated.”

“Mere!” the Unicorn shouted. “That’s a fat load of shit and you know it!”

Luxure’s cheeks felt flush once again. Chanteuse meanwhile shouted to them from outside the establishment. “Watch your language Athena! We are proud and proper ladies, not some rude Danger World brutes!” Athena’s eyes looked away from the Orthus’ sudden intrusion on their conversation.

“He insulted the Dragons here with his statements!” Athena said while pointing at the downed Georgios with her hoof. “Then, when I called him out on his…” Her eyes looked around the room, as if she was trying to make sure a certain someone wasn’t watching. She saw the hair’s on Athena’s body stand up. “Uncouth behavior, he decided to mock me as some ignorant child who knew nothing of the affairs of Dragon World.”

“You kind of don’t,” Meglax stated while rubbing the back of his head. “Although, I understand your anger.”

“Can we go?” The knight asked.

“Not until I’m finished with you!” Athena said.

“Athena!” Luxure shouted. “Please stand down for now.”

“But my lady, you are a Dragon, and so are you green sir,” she said. “How could you let such comments go?”

“Time is good at building a resistance to idiotic comments. Bar Brawls are common, amongst us Dragons. Even if our relations to the dragon knights are “tolerable” we still try to avoid fights with them.” He looked over to the dragons were going back to their seats, others were just staring right at them, mostly at Athena. “Despite the attitudes of our lovely watchers.”

“Of course you know not to—” the knight was cut off.

“Although, I do remember needing to do some searching around.” He scratched the underside of his snout just like a chin. His eyes shifted over to the retreating knight. “Something about some battered and beaten dragon knights. Some of which, had blood dripping down from their heads. It was quite a horrid sight,” Meglax stated. Despite the fact this knight had his face covered. They could feel his body tense up. Meglax then turned back to Athena, “So one needs to be careful of what they do or say. Or else, some monsters may not take so kindly to such actions.” Luxure could swear that she saw a sly smirk forming on Meglax’s face. Athena didn’t seem to move. She instead just kept staring at the green dragon while the knight just rushed out with the downed man in tow.

“Quite the show.” Luxure giggled.

“I know,” Burn Guts said, while both the other dragon and him let her go. “Still, I got to admit.” Burn Guts patted Athena on the back in a manner that looked more like he was slapping her back. “You did great there. You got quite a punch!” He held onto his sides and laughed. Athena flexed her right arm and snickered. Despite her elegant figure, she had quite the definition in her arms. Flexing them showed off some rather noticeable muscle on them. She then repeated the same process with her other arm.

“Yeah I know. Like I said,’ she puffed chest out. The tight fabric of her gown showed off the curvature of her bosom, “Don’t underestimate me because I’m a Unicorn.”

The two dragons chuckled. “Duly noted.”

Luxure turned her head back to see Chanteuse walking over to the group a bit faster than normal. Without warning: her the open palm of her hand slammed into Athena’s right cheek. The sheer force moved the unicorn’s head to the side, and left a bright red mark on her face. Luxure winced while moving her shoulders up. She wanted to look away, or at least get involved, but maybe it was just better for her to stay where she was. Chanteuse’s eyes narrowed. Her hands moved over to hold onto her own hips, as she leaned forward. “Don’t use language like that! We are prim and proper ladies, not some crude uncivilized brutes!” She scolded. Athena held onto her cheek as she stared at the angry canine. Her eyes were wide as she felt her body leaning back while Chanteuse’s leaned in. The sheer display made Athena’s new friends shift their gaze over to her. This stunt even got Meglax’s attention. Everyone though just remained silent. “Nothing to see here, just some discipline,” Chanteuse said. She saw that some of the dragons turned around, and the few remaining ones that stayed got to hear her let loose a guttural growl at them. A few of them smirked before sitting back down. Both heads jerked back to Athena, and raised their brows. Athena raised a finger, about to speak, but Chanteuse just embraced her and pulled her close in. “It’s good to see that you are safe,” she said, her right head nuzzled into her neck while the left one gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Please, just make sure to think next time.” Athena nodded, Luxure giggled, and Meglax gestured for the two Armordragons to go.

“See you later Athena, maybe you come watch us brawl another time.” Burn Guts gave her another pat on the back while his friend nodded at her, before following him back to their table.

“Friends of yours?” Luxure asked.

“Yeah, I just met them. Burn Guts Dragon and Cheering Squad, Good Luck.”

“One of them is literally named Cheering Squad?” Chanteuse asked.

“Some dragons prefer to go by their roles for a team,” Meglax chimed in.

“There was only one of him though,” Chanteuse exclaimed.

“His friends may have been busy today.” Meglax chuckled. Chanteuse just shook her head.

Athena closed her eyes and smiled at them. “They are Dragons of class.”

“One of them looked like they weren’t any pants,” Chanteuse said.

Luxure held onto her cheeks and giggled. “Mhmm, and that same one had his chest exposed. Such a broad chest, and such thick crushing…” Chanteuse cleared her throat, making her bounce in place as she placed a hand to her mouth and giggled into it. “I mean, he looks like a Dragon of class.”

“Thanks!” Burn guts exclaimed, flashing her a smirk.

She stared at him for a moment, before she turned her head to the group at hand.

“Can we stick around and eat?” Avarice asked while walking into the inn.

“Who’s she?” Athena asked.

“I’m Avarice Bunker S—” she was cut off Meglax tapping her on her shoulder. She looked at him then covered her mouth, before looking back at Athena. “Just call me Avarice,” she said.

Chanteuse’s left head raised a brow at her. “No please, finish your whole name. All I know is that your name is Avarice.” Her right head looked for a seat. “I think we should get going.”

“Are you sure you girls don’t want to sit and eat some food?” Meglax asked.

“Oh?” Luxure scooted over to him. She rubbed her arm into his. “I knew you wanted to spend some time with me. I’m flattered,” she said while fanning herself with her hand.

Meglax gently pushed her away. “Don’t flatter yourself _too much_.” He shook his head. “Besides, I just thought it’d be better to discuss matters with you three while enjoying a meal.”

“We would but, Dad wants us to buy some supplies!” Avarice exclaimed. Meglax tilted his head. Avarice pushed her index fingers together and looked up the green dragon. “We need to repair a wall back at our home.”

“What did you do?” he asked.

“I-It wasn’t her,” Luxure stammered.

“Oh,” he said. Chanteuse grabbed onto both her and Athena’s arms while pulling them out.

“We need to get going,” Chanteuse said. Luxure’s gaze shifted to the back of the bar. A lone white scaled dragon sat at the corner of the inn. He tipped his cowboy hat up. Those eyes of his stared right at her. The last thing she saw, before she was dragged out with the girls was a rather sly smirk on his face, before he lowered back down to cover his eyes.

‘Weird,’ she thought. Once they were outside, she pulled away from Chanteuse’s grip and dusted off her skirt. Athena crossed her arms as she was let go. “Fine, fine, we’ll go buy the supplies.”

“You can go flirt with the scantily clad dragon men _after_ we handle what Drum asked of us first.”

Luxure giggled, with Avarice scratching her head. “Do the dragons were you come from not dress similarly?” Chanteuse shook her head, before she walked off towards a carpentry stand. “I’ll take that as a no,” she stood right by Luxure.

“Can we talk for a bit my lady?” Athena asked.

“Let me guess,” she walked past Athena. “A giant skull spoke to you about being lost.”

“Yeah. Wait, how did you—” Athena paused as she walked off. “Know,” she finished.

“We’ll talk more about that later,” she said. Soon she heard clopping of Athena’s hooves right behind her.

It didn’t take long for them to finally reach their destination: A rather rustic looking wooden stand. The dragon there seemed to have a variety of tools to help with any household building needs: hammers, saws, drills, and many more things were up for purchase for anyone who was interested. Behind it was a rather large looking caravan that looked like it housed more of his merchandise. “Greetings,” Chanteuse said to the owner.

“What can I help you with?” he asked. Luxure tapped on Avarice’s shoulder. She pulled out the list from her pocket and handed it to her.

She passed him the list of supplies. “We were told that you have all of these things here.” He nodded, before going under the stall. Footfalls came from right behind the group. Luxure turned around to see the same white scaled dragon from back at the bar. He smirked at the girls, and flashed them a smirk. Athena turned around and placed a hand on her hip.

“Who the f—” Athena was interrupted by Chanteuse clearing her throat. “I mean, who the heck are you?”

“Charmed my dear ladies.” He bowed while tipping his hat. “The name is Desperado, and I need your help.”

“Can you hold it?” The shopkeeper asked, as he placed down two large bags, filled with who knows what, considering the loud thud that came from his stall once they placed onto the counter. “These girls have to wait, as I need to head inside and get the rest of the stuff.”

“I understand my fine sir, but sadly I really do need the assistance of some kind Dragon World folk.”

Luxure raised a brow. She took a step closer to him and held onto his hand. “Well, lucky for you. The maiden of Dragon World is here to help you!” she exclaimed.

“Never heard of you miss,” The shopkeeper chimed in, which made her sigh.

“So what did you need?” she asked.

“A friend of mine is being held against his will by a powerful monster, and I could really use some help in getting him back.”

She smirked at him while letting go of his hand. She placed a hand on her chest and puffed it out proudly. “Well then, lucky for you, the Gala Maidens are here to help you.”

“What about the supplies we need for Drum?” Chanteuse asked.

“Athena, mind staying here with Avarice and getting the rest of the supplies?” she asked.

Athena leaned forward with both hands on her hips. “Why don’t I get to fight alongside of you both?”

“Because, we can’t leave a child here alone,” Chanteuse stated.

Avarice pouted. “I can handle myself you know, plus I have the money, so you three could just go.”

There was a glint in Athena’s blue eyes. “See! The young Dragon is fine on her own, so let me go with you.” Athena puffed out her own sizable bust.

Desperado chuckled. “Eager aren’t you?” He looked at the three of them. “The more the merrier I’d always say.” Chanteuse glared at the dragon, making him snicker. “On the other hand, one shouldn’t leave a young dragon alone.”

“Please Athena,” Luxure begged.

“Fine.” Athena crossed her arms. “We’ll talk later, just get going.”

“Thanks,” she said.

Desperado pointed towards some grassy field in the distance. “We need to head out there. There’s an area out there, where he’s being held, follow me!” he exclaimed before running off.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see Chanteuse had a tight grip on her. “Are you sure about this?”

“Isn’t it the Gala Maiden duty to help?”

“It’s the Gala Maiden duty to make others happy. Plus, should we really trust some random Dragon that we just met?”

“Don’t worry,” she said, before pulling out of her grip. “Besides, when did my decisions ever cause us problems?”

Chanteuse stared right into her eyes. “The day we all got separated,” she said bluntly. Luxure looked away, before just running off to follow him, but she could hear Chanteuse’s sigh, before the Orthrus followed her. She felt Chanteuse’s hand back on her shoulder, as she nodded at her. She returned the favor, before the followed Desperado off to help him. Or at least, she hoped that he was as sincere as he seemed.


	4. Standoff with M.A.S.K.E.R

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luxure and her friends find out that M.A.S.K.E.R is rather persistent in trying to get them to join. Maybe with some extra help: They'll get the hint this time.

Athena sighed as she watched her two companions run off. “Geeze,” she muttered. “You’d think that they’d be more willing to let me go with them.” She scoffed while slamming her hands on the countertop. “Come on already! Hurry up! It can’t take you that long to get some dang carpentry stuff!” she shouted, which made Avarice giggle.

“Keep your skirt on unicorn. You got a big order coming, so it takes a while. Just be patient!” he shouted back from inside his caravan.

“Are you always like this?”

“Huh?” Athena asked.

“Are you always this, pushy?” Avarice asked.

“Only, when I’m left out of the fun. I mean seriously, they go out to help this guy with some big monster issue, and they don’t invite _me_?” She sighed, “I mean really. I’m probably the best monster smasher around.” She balled her hand into a fist, before hitting it against her open palm. She repeated the motion a few more times. Her nostrils flared as she did so; air blew out from them in a rather harsh manner. Each tap of her hoof on the ground was just another second that she had to think about how unfair this whole situation was. “It’s been so long and I want to punch something hard!” she shouted.

“What about that guy back at the bar?” Avarice asked.

“I have a lot of pent up energy,” she crossed her arms, “And someone is going to be on the receiving end of it.”

Avarice backed up a bit and giggled. “Geeze, you sound like my uncle.”

“Who?” Athena asked. “That weird green dragon?”

“No, he’s a red dragon. Like my dad! You kind of remind me of both of them actually.”

"That’s…good…right?”

Avarice shrugged. What happened next was rather odd: Snow began to fall down from the sky. A few of the snowflakes landed on both of their snouts. As more and more of the snow fell; Athena’s once dark pink mane was starting to get covered by it. It was to the point where her mane now looked like it had some white speckles mixed in. Meanwhile the young girl stuck out her tongue to catch a few snowflakes.

“What the?” a dragon from the crowd said.

“Snow at this time?”

“What do you mean at this time? When was the last time you remember seeing snow in Dragon World?”

While the dragons continued to converse with one another. Athena tapped her right hoof against the stone ground. “What’s going on!?” she shouted. “Why is there snow all of a sudden?” Avarice placed a hand under her snout. “No clue, but this is like back at home.” She looked up, and watched the snowflakes descend onto the marketplace. “Some weird masked woman came. Then she wanted dad and Luxure to go with her, and when they refused, she caused it to snow.” She placed her hands on the back of her head. “Well, it was more like she tried to freeze them and the rest of our home.”

“Thanks for the information.” Both Athena and Avarice looked towards the direction of the voice. Meglax was right behind them. His hand was now on Avarice’s shoulder. “Stay here, your father will have a fit if you get hurt.”

“Hey wait!” Avarice exclaimed, but Meglax ran off. “Ugh, why can’t I go help?”

“You’re a kid,” Athena said.

“I’ll have you know that I’m the third oldest child of the current generation of the Bunker Dragon clan!” Avarice proclaimed proudly.

Her face lit up. Eyes darting down to the young dragoness. “Does that mean you can stay here and buy the supplies?” she asked while hastily squatting down to face her.

Avarice scoffed, “Fine.” She crossed her arms.

“Okay, thanks bye!” Athena ran off, her hooves practically slammed into the ground as she bolted towards the direction of her friends.

Avarice sighed and leaned on the counter top as best as she could. Due to her height, she had to push herself up to look over it. “I was kind of hoping we could all just hang out,” she muttered to herself.

***

Battle arenas weren’t uncommon in Dragon World, as practicing your skills was always important. All you needed was just some stones, or something smooth for the monsters to fight on to make one, and heck, some dragons just used any old grassy field. They just used anything to mark out the size of a ring, even their claws could be used for that. Although, Luxure was thankful that more than just battlers were appreciated. As long as you could find something you were passionate about, and make it have some form of utility for your clan, or to the other citizens of Dragon World; it’d be fine. She took the time to really appreciate how the arena wasn’t just made of stone. It was just grass, with a mixture of both dilapidated and fully standing pillars acting as makeshift cut off markers for the ring. No doubt, this must have been an older training ground. Although, sometimes softer ground was a sign of the brawlers doing something…_else_ after their sparing. At least, she fancied the idea of it: _Being thrown face down into the soft grass. Sweat rolling down their bodies after a good and thorough wrestle for dominance. The blades of grass brushing against her cheeks. As the victor of their spar; he would yank up her skirt. His strong hands would enjoy the smoothness of her scales, and curvature of her thick dancers’ legs. His breath beating against her neck as he felt her up. He’d give her neck a bit of a love bite. The gentle yet rough feeling of those fangs teasing her would make her moan. It wouldn’t be long before she’d feel that thick, meaty…_”Luxure!” Chanteuse yelled. She felt some heat flowing into her cheeks. Her fingers wiggled through the grass while she looked up at the Orthrus and giggled.

“Guess, I was getting a bit too into my thoughts again?”

“_A bit?_” Chanteuse asked. “I can feel the heat emanating from your body.”

Desperado looked down at Luxure, with a clear grin on his face. “I mean, I don’t mind.” He tipped his hat. “May I ask, what’s wrong though?”

“It’s none of your business!” Chanteuse exclaimed. Luxure took a deep breath and stood right up. Looking around at how clear and open the field was. The air was still blowing just enough to provide a cool breeze, but not be overbearing. “Where is this monster by the way?” she asked.

“Well, he should be here very short—”

“Cut the crap, what’s your angle?” her left head barked.

Desperado snickered. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“If you wanted to talk, then you could just have stuck with us back at the marketplace. Unless…oh my.” She leaned closer to him. “Don’t tell me, you just wanted to get to know little ol’ me in _private_?” She wiggled her hips.

“Well now,” he said. “Looks like you caught me.” He held his hands up. “I happened to see you back at the bar, and I just had to get a chance to speak to you.” He flashed her a smile. She giggled, and rubbed her body on his arm.

“What a charmer,” she whispered in his ear.

“Really, my Lady?” Both of Chanteuse’s head said in unison.

She turned towards Chanteuse, “What, he just wants to talk with us?” she then turned back to Desperado. “Shouldn’t we give this handsome dragon a chance?” Chanteuse placed her hand over the face of her left head, sighing, as the right one just shook itself. Luxure though just smiled at him while placing a hand on his chest. Rubbing against the smooth fabric of his coat. Desperado smirked, as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Well, I haven’t seen ladies like you around Dragon World before, so I thought you either were either visiting from another world.”

“I actually come from Dragon World,” she said.

“Were I’m from is none of your concern,” Chanteuse retorted.

Luxure sighed while turning back to Chanteuse, “You get mad when the Fifth Omni Dragons keep information classified, but when _you’re_ asked, you do the same thing.” Chanteuse smacked her own left head with her palm, as the right one sighed. Luxure looked at Desperado, who was now focusing his attention on Chanteuse.

Desperado chuckled. “Well now. Fifth Omni, like the Fifth Omni Cavalry Dragons?” She let go of him, as he stepped forward. “Are you telling me you two lovely ladies actually got to speak with them?”

Chanteuse refused to say anything, which made Luxure speak up right away. “Why yes, we just ran into one of them today. A cutie by the name of Meglax, but we didn’t get to have a full conversation with him. Just some small talk.”

Chanteuse’s left head shook. “Why don’t you blab everything to him?” Both of her hands were kept firmly on her hips.

“Chanteuse, I know at times it can be hard, but you really shouldn’t be afraid of talking to new people.”

“I agree with your friend here, Ms. Chanteuse.” Desperado tipped his hat, before keeping it held close to his chest. “I’m just a humble wanderer, out to make sure that in these rough times. That we monsters are safe from the troubles out there.” He stared right into their eyes. Tightening his grip on his hat as he stood up proud. “Please give me a chance. You won’t be disappointed in what I’d have to say.”

“You seem to have gotten a bit more serious,” she said.

“I’m quite interested in why, you were a bit flustered before, but now you’re much different,” Chanteuse said. She took a few steps towards the white dragon. “What’s the meaning of that?”

“Well, your dragon friend shoving herself on me was one thing.” He looked back to her and snickered. “I mean if someone threw themselves onto you, wouldn’t that cause you to be a bit flustered?”

Chanteuse scoffed and turned her heads away. “Just get on with it. What did you want to talk about?”

“Have you both heard of M.A.S.K.E.R?”

At that moment, Luxure’s eyes dilated while Chanteuse’s head shot back towards Desperado. Both of heads snarled as she took a few steps closer to him.

“That name rings a bell,” Luxure said. Chanteuse meanwhile reached out and grabbed onto the white dragon’s collar. She pulled him right into her snarling faces. Her pupils got much smaller while she glared at him.

“You can say we have, but you were the first person to actually bring that name up. The only other, was some stupid human, so tell me,” Chanteuse tightened her grip on Desperado’s collar; threatening to lift him up in the air. Her eyes continued to stare right into the white dragon’s own. “How do you know that name, and why are you so interested in talking to Luxure?”

“Chanteuse stop!” she shouted.

“I-I just know of the name. They’re kind of a big deal among some of the stronger monsters, especially in Dragon World, so I was making sure if you had heard of them, because if you did, then they might have been…” Chanteuse pushed him down onto the soft grass. Her left head scoffed while the right one raised a brow.

“They might have been after us?” Chanteuse asked.

“Well yes. M.A.S.K.E.R is looking for powerful monsters to join them, and some of them are…suspicious of their intent.”

“It’s kind of hard not to be. Especially when they have one of their own threaten our lives!” Luxure snapped. Once Desperado looked up to her, she quickly covered her mouth and gasped. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so angry there. It’s just that some weird masked women threatened us, when we didn’t go with her, and it was that same women, who said she was from M.A.S.K.E.R.” She moved her hand away from her mouth. “After her own monster failed to incapacitate us. She tried to freeze both the dragon we were staying with and us.”

He grunted, “Sounds rough,” Desperado stood back up. He dusted off his windbreaker coat while keeping his attention more fixated on the angry Orthrus than anything else. “I can assure you though that M.A.S.K.E.R actually means well.”

“Oh really?” Chanteuse’s right head asked, “Why’s that cowboy!?” Her left head snapped.

Desperado held out both of his hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down little missy.” Chanteuse’s heads growled, as she pulled her arm back and balled her hand into a fist. “You are letting one bad interaction with a member sully your view on a group that actually could mean well.”

“Kind of hard not too, when they tried to turn us into Popsicles!” Chanteuse shouted.

“And I’m sure that the boss has punished Serpentis for her hasty actions…” Desperado sighed while looking back and forth at the two women. He smacked his own forehead with his hand.

“That was easy,” Chanteuse said ready to strike. “I’ll give you five seconds to tell us who the heck M.A.S.K.E.R is, and why they want both Drum and Luxure?”

“Desperado, are you really working for M.A.S.K.E.R?” She asked?

“Listen here, I don’t know what fully happened with you two, but we aren’t the bad guys here.”

“One,” Chanteuse’s right head said while taking a step forward.

“Listen, I can’t speak about this. All I can say is for you both to trust us, and that we honestly mean well.”

“Two,” her left head said. Another step was taken. Desperado reached down towards his hip.

‘He couldn’t right, he isn’t going to actually try something like that,’ Luxure thought. ‘And he was so cute too, but maybe he’s right?’ she thought.

_“Don’t worry. Besides, when did my decisions ever cause us problems?”_

__

__

_“The day we all got separated,” she said bluntly._

‘Back at the market.’ She shook her head.

“Four,” Chanteuse’s left head spoke as she hunkered down.

‘This dragon can’t be a bad guy. I just know it, maybe he really does want to just to talk to us.’

Desperado grabbed out a gun from his holster and pointed right at her. “Listen here, I don’t want any trouble between us, don’t make this anymore awkward than it already is.” She saw his fingers about to squeeze the trigger, and then…silence. The two just stared at each other. Chanteuse remained hunkered down. Ready to charge while Desperado kept his gun aimed at her. Their standoff continued. She shuffled herself to the right, which had him move to the left. She continued trying to move to the right, which made him continue on his path. The two continued to move around in this sort of circle. Desperado placed his hat back on and tipped it down. At that moment all she could hear was the loud almost booming sound of a gunshot, as he pulled the trigger. In a quick jerk, the gun kicked back in his arm. Luxure placed her hands on her mouth. In what seemed like a blur: Chanteuse dove down and under the bullet, and rush forward and threw her fist right at time.

“FIVE!” she shouted, as she threw her fist straight for Desperado’s face, and it was at that moment, when everyone there heard the deep voice of a male.

“I cast!” Chanteuse was stunned, when a weird ring of light seemed to form right in front of Desperado, with many spikes of light that circled around the ring. Her fist collided with the center of the ring, which somehow was blocking her attack. “Divine Protection of Shalsana!”

“That’s a Dungeon World spell!” Luxure exclaimed.

Chanteuse tried to get through the protection spell. Her fist was going to bust into that Dragon’s skull if she had anything to say about it, but to her dismay, she felt the barrier of light force her back, and almost like a trampoline: She was bounced right away from Desperado. Slamming into the cold dirt, as she bounced back a few times, before sliding the rest of the way on her back. A sharp pain ran through Chanteuse’s shoulder, and an even sharper bestial howl was let loose from the Orthrus. Luxure scowled and turned to Desperado. She lunged right at him, but was soon met with the same male’s voice.

“I cast!” Soon a huge column of fire burst forth from the ground and engulfed her body. “Pillar of Fire!” he shouted.

She felt every inch of it being set on ablaze. “AHHH!” She screamed out to the sky. She dug her fingers into either side of her arms. The fire column that surrounded her continued to burn. No doubt leaving singe marks across her delicate scales. The burning heat was getting to her, but she had to push through. She tried to take step out, but to no avail. The fire surrounding her body was too much. She fell down to the ground, as the flame pillar soon went out on its own. Both of her hands were planted firmly on the mix of both grass and dirt, as she stayed there on her knees and hands. Panting and gasping as the burning sensation wasn’t going away yet. ‘How embarrassing,’ she thought while looking up to Desperado, who holstered his gun while looking down at her.

“Now why did you have to go and attack me like that?” he asked looking back down the Orthrus, who was now grunting while slowly getting up. “We could have talked this through all peaceful like,” he said. His tone changing to fit the image of the western gunslinger that he looked like. “Will you both just calm down and listen now?”

“Forget it Buddy, they don’t want to talk clearly. That feisty canine rather pick a fight.” Standing up from behind one of the many piles of rubble was another human. A black male. Clad in his own: brown leather duster, black cowboy hat, and matching black domino mask. If it wasn’t for the difference in species: The two could have been brothers with how they dressed. “_Unless_. They’d be up to listening to reason now?”

“Another human in Dragon World?” Luxure gasped out. Her body shook while looking towards him.

“And he’s clearly no Dragon Knight,” Chanteuse added.

“The name’s Dune, and we just want to talk to your dear draconic friend about an offer,” he said. The two women glared at them. The white dragon still had a hand within the inside of his coat. “This here is my Buddy. Outlaw Gambit Dragon, Desperado.”

“Of course, as I told you before, you ladies can just call me Desperado,” he said. He looked back down to Luxure. “This really isn’t my style, and it frankly, it makes M.A.S.K.E.R look bad.”

“Then why shoot at us!” Chanteuse snapped.

“_You’re_ the one who tried to hit me. _You’re_ the one who grabbed my collar and pushed me down to the ground, and _you’re_ the one who decided to get all pissy the second I mentioned M.A.S.K.E.R, so personally, I believe _you’re_ the one to blame here missy!” Chanteuse snarled at him. 

“So now, would you both be up for a little discussion now?” Dune asked. A very smug smirk was on his face. “After all, we rather not mess with such pretty faces.” He snickered. “Well, not any more than we already did.”

“Dune!” Desperado snapped at him.

“What!? They attacked you, so they suffered the consequences.”

“We’re not out yet though!” Chanteuse shouted rushing back for Desperado. Both of her heads inhaled. Luxure took this moment to quickly rise up. She saw Chanteuse’s chest expanding from her continuous inhale. Air flooded her lungs quickly, and she needed to be ready to follow up, but on who? She saw Desperado’s fingers wiggling by his holstered gun.

‘Desperado is the main fighter here, but that human,’ she stopped to see Dune pulling out another card from his jacket. ‘He’s the one who keeps casting those spells. Ugh, it’s just like back at Drum’s place. That dumb woman was able to somehow cast spells, and use a weapon. How though is that possible though? They aren’t monsters.’

The card in Dune’s hand began to glow. “I cast!”

‘No time to worry about that now. I really was hoping for a break from all of this fighting.’ Some beads of sweat rolled down her smooth face, as her breathing began to pick up. ‘I just wanted to have a dang normal day after all of this crap, but no, some stupid skull shows his face, I suddenly find out I’ve been in a coma for all of these years, and now some random humans and their pet monsters are out for Drum and me.’

A loud gunshot came from the card alongside of a golden bullet that was shot straight out of it. She also saw that Desperado’s gun was glowing with the same white light that came from the card. His hand practically looked like it vanished. He was able to just unholster his gun in a second. A golden bullet shot out from it as well, with both of them rocketing towards Chanteuse. “Deadeye Art, Gambit’s Gunfure!” Dune shouted.

‘The human,’ she thought. She placed both hands onto the dirt and leaned forward. She began to move both her legs back and forth. Like she was about to just burst out into a sprint. She wanted to run now, but the chaos that was sure to follow kept her from moving.

Chanteuse took his vocal que as her chance. She closed her mouth and let all of the air inside of her chest build up. All of it was looking for a way out, and at the moment, the only way was through her nose, but she managed to keep it in. Letting her chest expand even more, before pulling both of her heads back. Right after she shot them forward and opened her mouth to let loose a howl. The piercing screech of sharp nails raking across a chalkboard wished they could be as audibly ear destroying as this. It would put most annoying screeching to shame. It could make a banshee blush. It sounded like…pain. Visible sound waves came from both of her heads, as she screamed, “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Both bullets disintegrated as they came in contact with Chanteuse’s scream. That wasn’t all though. The sound waves easily battered into both Dune and Desperado, but instead of knocking them back. They just stood there, both of their hands went straight for their ears.

“What the hell is this!?” Desperado shouted, his breathing became heavier, and she could only wonder how his heart was fairing, as all they could hear at this point was her screaming, and the fact she was slowly now walking towards them while keeping this one monstrous tone going. Desperado managed to barely keep himself standing, but Dune was a different story. He couldn’t even speak. His fingers looked like they were digging into his skull. Trying in vain to remain latched onto his head so that he could desperately cover his ears. A few trails of blood coming from them showed how well his efforts went. Dune just sat there on his knees. His body shaking. Both his hat and Desperado’s blew clean off; carried away by the fierce winds that were caused by her screeching howl. Chanteuse was shaking at this point. Maybe it wasn’t a wise idea to follow through with her plan to charge for the human. Desperado was still standing. Although whether or not he was still going to have energy left was a different story all together. “M-Make it stop,” he said. Chanteuse finally let the note go once she was right in front of him. Her chest looked like it was back to normal. Her breasts heaved up and down as she panted. Luxure just barely saw Desperado’s hand reaching back for his gun. It was now or never. She broke out in a sprint for Desperado. “Okay, forget talking now.” Even with her running, she wasn’t going to get there in time, but Chanteuse managed to quickly lean out of the way of his gunfire.

“Your hands are shaky Mr. White Dragon. What’s wrong?” She laughed, her pupils becoming much smaller, as she flashed him a toothy grin. “Is the tough guy act harder to keep up when the vibrations of my scream are still coursing through your body?” She slammed the heel of her boot straight into his foot.

“Ahhh!” Desperado screamed out. This time, Luxure saw that his shaky hands were about to shoot. She planted both of her hands onto the grass and vaulted herself up into the air. She span around once, before striking at Desperado’s head with her leg. Her foot came crashing down right against his skull. She winced from the severity of the impact. Very few creatures could say that they didn’t have hard heads. It wasn’t just a statement to say someone was dumb. Most creature’s skulls were just thick, and some, like dragons had harder skulls than others, but it made attacks like this better sometimes. She really had to force the back of her boot into his head to make that impact sting, and soon she was able to finish her full kick, pulling it back towards her body as she landed on the ground. Chanteuse followed up by pulling her arm back inward, and striking forward with a swift straight punch right for his gut. The impact lifted him up off the ground. She then let him fall, just so Luxure could follow up with a spin kick aimed for his chin. The blow sent Desperado flying back just a few inches, before he slammed onto the ground to the right of Dune’s line of sight of the girls.

“Nice work,” she said while extending her hand out to Chanteuse. The Orthrus grabbed onto it as both ladies shook hands.

“Likewise my lady, glad to see you still got it.”

“Not as much as you. I remember your vocals being a lot more…prettier than that.”

“Consider that a Darkness Dragon World special.” Both heads begun to laugh.

It wasn’t until they heard the familiar deep voice of Dune that they turned their heads. “I CAST!” He shouted, borderline incoherently. Despite not standing up he managed to pull another card out. This one glowed as well, but a bullet didn’t come out of this one. No, instead what looked like a giant boulder just formed and dropped down. Shaking the very ground they stood on. “ROLLING STONE!” The giant boulder barreled towards the two women.

“Get down!” A familiar voice shouted. Both of them turned around to see Athena of all monsters rushing towards them.

“Isn’t she supposed to be with Avarice?” Chanteuse asked.

“I thought so as well,” she said.

Athena meanwhile jumped over the two of them. She twisted her body to the left while holding her fist back. Once she was close enough to the boulder, she let loose one haymaker right at it.

“Athena don’t!”

“Dangerous Powerblow!” She shouted delivering her timely haymaker right at the large rolling stone. Her fist collided straight on with it. Both ladies just stood there and watched, as the Unicorn’s own fist shattered right through. Breaking the giant rock into multiple pieces, until all that was left around the area was rubble. Dune’s jaw was just agape at the sight. Athena then landed and took a very aggressive stance: her fists held up, with her right one being closer to her face, and her left one being held out to her side. Both of her legs remained spread. She then leaned forward. “Now it’s a true Gala Maiden party!” Luxure walked up and placed a hand on Athena’s shoulder. Chanteuse’s left head shook while the right one smiled at the Unicorn.

“Not bad,” Chanteuse said. Athena meanwhile rubbed her nose in a snarky fashion while smirking at the two of them. “Don’t let it get to your head,” the left head spoke.

“Come on now, I punched through a boulder. I think that’s worth some praise.”

Luxure laughed, as Chanteuse kept her eyes focused on the currently knocked down Desperado. Much to their dismay, he was already starting to move again. The Cowboy’s fingers wiggled on the ground, as his body shifted about in place while trying to push himself up.

“I guess he still has some fight left in him,” Athena said. She smirked while hitting her fist into her palm a few times. “I mean he’s a dragon after all. He’d be a pretty shi-…” Athena stopped. Looking back at the glaring eyes of Chanteuse. “I mean crap Dragon, if he couldn’t take a few licks.” Her hooves pawed at the ground, as her nostrils flared. “Come on, you fancy pants gunner, get up, and let’s thrown down!” she exclaimed.

“Should we really be antagonizing him?” Luxure asked.

“He picked a fight with you and Chanteuse, so heck yeah,” Athena said. The three of them got ready for the slowly rising dragon.

“Your canine friend actually picked this fight first, and right now!” Desperado pulled out his gun in his right hand while his left hand pulled out of a coin from the front pocket of his coat. “I’m going to finish it.” His thumb flipped the coin high into the air. He pointed his gun straight up in the air.

“Girl’s now!” Luxure commanded. She ran right for Desperado. Chanteuse ran from her right and around to go for Desperado’s side. Athena followed suit, except she attacked from Desperado’s left side.

The white dragon fired three bullets into the sky. The first bullet struck against the golden coin and ricocheted right off of it. Sending it further up into the air. The second one smacked right into the coin as well, but surprisingly, it ricocheted off to the left, and just like some odd magic: It bounced off the coin and went flying to the right. All three bullets hit the girls. Luxure just managed to sidestep out of the way. Chanteuse sadly couldn’t dive out of the way in time, and the bullet dug into her leg. A sharp yelp escaped from her mouths. Athena scowled. She just barely was able to tuck and roll past her bullet. He looked over to Chanteuse. She held onto her leg. Gasping as she shook in place. He turned back to the approaching girls. Athena reached him first. Pulling her fist back, before throwing it straight at Desperado’s face. He grabbed onto her fist, and threw her onto the ground. Luxure spun around towards him. Ending her little display with a swift ballerina kick to his chest. Athena pulled her legs back towards her head. Getting back up by lunging herself forward. Both of her hooves slammed into Desperado’s face. Athena landed on her feet, with her hands planted on the ground. Desperado kept his balance, and pointed his gun right at Athena. His eyes narrowed. His right eye though seemed to be able to dart between both her and Athena. Making Luxure shiver at the sight. Before he could fire, Chanteuse grabbed onto Desperado’s leg and tightened her grip. He turned to see her inhaling once more, before letting loose a much more booming howl. The force from her shout buffeted him back towards them. Chanteuse’s claws fiddled with the bullet that was lodged into her leg. She winced while trying to yank it out. “Chanteuse no,” Athena said.

“Shut it!” she snapped at her. She grit her teeth. Keeping all of those sharp looking fangs on display as she wiggled the bullet around in her leg.

“But I was told—” Athena’s words fell on deaf ears, with a rather gross wet sound; she yanked the bullet out of her leg. Some blood trailed down her leg, as she closed her eyes.

“I’ll be fine, just finish him, before—”

“I CAST!” Dune shouted.

“He’s still up?” Luxure questioned.

Dune’s card began to glow. Both of them braced themselves for whatever plan he had. A silver box dropped down right in front of them. A big red button sat right on top of it. Begging to be pushed to unleash whatever terror it would. Athena dropped her arms down and scratched her head. Only a few seconds later: A large white glove just popped in from a cloud of pink smoke. It then slapped right down onto that red button. The box unleashed multiple beams of light, before both girls were caught in the blast of a powerful explosion. “DUNGEON EXPLOSION!” Luxure let loose a scream, as the familiar feeling of searing flames was now mixed with a rather new feeling of an indescribable force battering against her body. She felt her body being thrown back from the epicenter of the explosion. She landed on her back, her head slammed against the dirt. Athena didn’t fare much better. She may not have been blown back like her, but she was still lying face first in the dirt.

Desperado walked up to her. His boots stomped on the grass with each step, and each time he took one. It sounded like he took a few seconds before he took another. Was he toying with her? Was he just trying to draw each step out to mess with her? She placed the palms of her hands firmly on the ground. Trying to push herself up, but the burning sensation remained. Each time her arms moved, she felt those sharp burning stings across her body. She looked up to Desperado, who now stood right above her. She scowled at him. Ready for the worse. She wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He extended his hand towards her: Much to her confusion. “Come on now, just take it and get up. This doesn’t have to get any worse,” he said. She watched, as he twirled his gun around, before shoving it back in its holster. “See I put it away.”

“You lied to us,” she said.

“I lied about the monster situation. Nothing more.”

“What do you mean n-nothing more?”

“I mean what I mean.” He reached inside of his coat and removed his holster. “Want me to drop this then, would that give you more motivation?”

“What do you think?”

Desperado sighed. “I understand. I’d rather not go back without at least one of you.”

As he put his holster back into the inside of his coat. A green bolt of light was flying straight for Desperado. He dropped down to the ground, and right down to ground level with her. She shoved her boot right into his face and knocked him back on his ass. He rose up and shook his head. “Wasn’t expecting backup to come.”

Approaching the group was the same green dragon from before. He looked at her, then to Athena, and lastly to Chanteuse, who was the only one of them that was now standing up. Both of her heads looked furious, as they were locked onto the draconic gunslinger. The two ranged fighters locked eyes with one another. “You know, if you want others to listen to you, maybe trying not to assault them would be the better option,” Meglax said. He readied his bow and nocked an arrow. Desperado pointed his gun straight for him.

“I’d tell you what I told them, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you don’t care about my reason.”

“You’d be right.” He kept his aim focused on him. He reached back into his coat. She could only assume that he was reaching for his gun. One of his eyes though looked back at Chanteuse, who was now walking towards him.

“You’ve got more trouble than just him!” both heads exclaimed in unison. “You aren’t going to get away with this, gunslinger!”

As Meglax let loose his arrow. Desperado fired straight for it. Both projectiles collided with one another. Stopping each other in their tracks. He was done yet though. At that same moment, he also managed to jerk his hand behind him to fire to at Chanteuse. She held up her own arm to take the hit. Despite the bullet lodging itself within her arm: Chanteuse only winced, and kept on moving towards him.

The burning sensation was starting to go away. She let out a sigh of relief and slowly pushed herself back up. Athena though was still down. She took a deep breath and made a sprint for her downed friend. Her eyes looked over to the white dragon, as he pointed straight for her legs. He looked away from her and down towards the ground. She couldn’t read his lips, but it seemed like he was muttering something. Before he could fire though there was another voice. It had much coarser tone to it. “Vulcan Blade!” A flaming sword struck at Desperado. Causing him to drop his gun, as a shot was fired off in a random direction, as she reached Athena, she looked back to who the newcomer was. Standing before them was a red dragon, who seemed to be only slightly taller than Meglax. Her eyes were practically drawn to his long blond hair. She could already imagine hair like that flowing in the open breeze on a windy day, before a rough spar. Fire had to be a focus of his. Not just due to the name of his attack, not even due to the red scales. She could tell just from the way his large orange horns seemed to almost be on fire themselves. Unlike Meglax, this one wore armor more fitting for Armordragons. He had only one pauldron, and it was pretty large. It was segmented into three parts. His chest was covered by some breastplate, but that was just it: his chest. The red dragon’s toned midriff was left completely exposed, and even most of those rugged arms of his were left exposed, with just some fingerless gauntlets to shield his hands. It all made the short green jacket he wore look somewhat out of place, despite the dragon’s confident demeanor at the moment. Much to her dismay, his legs were the most armored thing on him. Not a hint of his scales were showing through those heavy armored leggings. His tail swung back and forth as she could see a toothy grin on his face while he pointed his blade right at Desperado. Chanteuse just scoffed at the showy display. Athena lifted her head up to look at him. Her lower lip quivered at the sight of him. Her eyes widened, as she stared at him. If stars could be in one’s eyes, then she’d have two bright ones shining right now at the two dragons.

Meglax looked towards Chanteuse. “Since you are the only one up, mind helping us out,” he said.

“We don’t need help from them, let’s just focus on our target!” The red dragon exclaimed.

“We have at least one of them able to fight, so we might as well have more assistance Doble,” Meglax said, before his let loose another arrow from his bow.

“I CAST, DIVINE PROTECTION OF SHALSANA!” Dune shouted. Another light barrier appeared right before Desperado. He smirked, as the arrow bounced clean off of it. His tail snaked around his gun and tossed it right back into his hand. Meglax let another arrow fly. Desperado rolled out of the way, and fired off a shot right for Meglax. Much like a knight: Doble leapt in front of Meglax, and sliced the bullet in two. Meglax smirked at Doble’s action, as he rested the hilt of his blade on his shoulder.

Luxure rubbed Athena’s head. The unicorn looked up at her. Their tails wrapped around each other. Giving Athena some support, as they rose to their feet. “Thanks,” Athena said, as she slowly moved away from Luxure. She bent over and placed her hands on her legs as she panted.

Meglax readied his bow once more. Dune though lifted another card up as it began to glow. “I CAST, CECILIA’S SPELL DISARM!” Meglax soon felt his own bow beginning to emit a painful discharge of electricity.

“Gahh!” He grunted. Letting go of his bow as it dropped to the ground. Doble ran for Desperado, as he ducked under his swing. He seemed prepared though, and brought the butt of his sword down against Desperado’s skull. Sending him crashing into the ground. Doble snickered as he pointed his sword right at his head.

“So, are you going to surrender?” he asked. He then looked down. Fire was starting to form and swirl around him.

“I CAST, PILLAR OF FIRE!” A burst of flame spewed out from the ground below and engulfed Doble. He held his ground and stepped forward.

“It’ll take more than that to stop me,” he said.

Desperado took aim at him, but at that moment: Chanteuse kicked at Desperado’s hand. Knocking his gun clean out of his hand. She lifted him up in the air and glared at him. She brought her knee straight for his gut. He gasped out, as the wind was knocked out of him. Doble then struck him with the flat end of his sword. Knocking him out of Chanteuse’s grip. Meglax was soon able to grab onto his bow again. He met the two of them around Desperado. All three of them surrounded him.

“Athena,” Luxure whispered. “Go help them out.”

“What? What about you?” she asked.

She looked over to the human reaching into his jacket. “I’ll back you up.” She turned back to Athena. “I just need to handle something else first.” She smirked. Athena nodded as she ran for the upcoming beat down. Luxure walked over to the human. He pulled out another card and held it out.

“I CAST!”

Before he could finish what he was saying. She dropped down to the ground and swept her leg under his own. Dune fell to the ground, with the card falling right out of his hand. He looked up at her, as she placed her foot on his chest. “Now, how about you sit there instead,” she teased.

“Dune!” Desperado shouted as he turned to see the charging unicorn. “Geeze.” He vaulted himself up in the air. Jumping away from the monsters who surrounded him. He held out his hand. His gun flew over to him, as he holstered it, and dove down towards the two of them.

“Well, look who’s here.”

“Let him go,” Desperado said. She moved her foot, and stomped it on the ground right near him. She raised a brow at him, as he grabbed onto him and put him on his back. “You aren’t getting away!” Doble shouted.

“Windsong Arrow!” Meglax shouted as he let loose a much narrower, yet faster arrow at both of them.

Dune barely raised his hand, “I CAST, DIVINE PROTECTION OF SHALSANA!” Another barrier of light blocked the arrow from hitting its mark. Desperado then ran off with him in tow.

All that was left of their battle was one of Dune’s Buddyfight card on the ground, which Meglax darted for. “Hey what was that card?” Chanteuse asked while Luxure made her ways towards the group.

“Sorry but we can’t tell you right now. We kind of need to still keep things on the hush hush. At least, until we get more information.

Athena walked over to them, with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. “Can you at least come back with us to the marketplace?”

Luxure placed her hands on her cheeks. “Wait, Avarice! She’s back there!” she exclaimed.

“WHAT!?” Doble shouted.

Chanteuse’s heads smirked, “You know her?” She leaned in closer to the red dragon.

“I-I didn’t say that,” he said.

“On the contrary.” Chanteuse walked around Doble. “I think you do, so I insist on you both joining us on the trip back to the Marketplace.”

“I don’t have time to babysit you girls!” Doble said.

“Can you both please join us in general then?” Luxure asked while getting up closer to Doble. She then began to wiggle her hips and rub against him. “I’d love if a handsome dragon like you accompanies us back. I mean did you see the way that you handled things back there. Such power.”

Doble smirked. “Yeah I know.” He flashed her a toothy smile. “I’m that good.” She could see him looking at her. Mainly, her scars. The burn marks she had over her scales seemed to be slowly fading. Much to his surprise. “What in Dragon World is going on with you?”

“Huh?” She looked down and shrugged. “Oh that? I-It’s just something I do.” She rubbed the back of her head.

“Interesting talent,” Meglax said. He placed a hand on Doble’s shoulder. “You sure change your tone quick by the way.” Doble glared back at him.

“All it takes is some ego stroking. Typical dragon,” Chanteuse said.

“I don’t know, I think they are cool!” Athena jumped up and down in place.

“So about coming with us back to the marketplace?” Athena asked. Doble turned back and stared at the Unicorn, who was just gazing back at them. Her stance looked full of life: Legs spread apart, chest held forward, with a look much different than Luxure’s own longing. Her hands were balled into fists that she kept held up by her sides. It looked like she was going to just burst with all of that energy. “I know a good bar in the area,” she said.

“No!” Chanteuse shouted. “Let’s not go back there,” she added.

Meglax smirked. “Besides, don’t you three chaperones need to hurry back?”

“Oh right! The young dragon,” Athena said.

“Her name is Avarice, and yes, we should check on her,” Luxure said.

“I can’t believe you three left a child unattended!” Doble snapped at them. Luxure had a nervous grin on her face. Chanteuse just shrugged, and Athena had a shit eating grin on her face.

“Well, she said she could handle herself, and besides—” Athena paused. Punching at the air. “If it wasn’t for me, then Luxure and Chanteuse would have been in some serious trouble.” She puffed out her chest.

“You also were down for pretty much the rest of the fight,” Doble said.

“He used a cheap trick! If he didn’t cast those dang spells, I would have clobbered both him and Desperado.” She hit her palm with her fist.

Doble leaned forward, with one hand on his hip, the other held firmly on the hilt of his sword. “If anything, you just failed to notice your opponent’s actions.”

“If anything—” Athena leaned closer to Doble. Looking up at the taller monster. Her eyes not moving. They only focused on Doble’s blue eyes. “I’d say that you haven’t yet seen what I can do. Besides, who else can you say destroyed a boulder with their very own fists!?” She held up her clenched fists and smirked. Neither’s gaze left each other. It was actually their chuckling that broke the silence. Doble started, then Athena, and then it only got louder and louder. Until, chuckling changed to laughter. Both of the monsters just held their sides while laughing. Doble threw his head back high while enjoying himself. Athena meanwhile kept both hands on her hips while laughing. Luxure smiled at them, and Chanteuse just sighed while keeping a hand on her left head. The right one though seemed to keep a warm smirk on its face.

Doble walked back towards Meglax, the two nodded at one another before turning around to walk away from the three of them. Doble looked back to Athena and flashed her a toothy smile. “I’ll give you this. If that’s true, then you got one heck of a punch, but it takes more than that to make a powerful monster.”

“Then let me show you sometime just how strong I can be.”

Doble rubbed the back of his head. “Sure, next time we meet.” He leaned right into her face. “You can show me just how strong you are little unicorn.”

The two broke apart from one another. Both of them grinning, as Athena held out her fist. “Next time it is. I’ll hold you to it!”

Meglax looked at Luxure, “Please make sure Avarice is kept safe. Despite what she says—”

“She’s still a child, I understand,” Luxure said. Meglax nodded, before looking towards Chanteuse.

Her left head turned away with a pout on its face. “T-Thank you,” it muttered. “Thank you for your assistance,” the right one said, before the two of them walked off.

“Come on girls, let’s go back to the Marketplace!” Luxure exclaimed while running off.

“Wait! You aren’t leaving me behind again!” Athena rushed off. “Last one there buys the drinks!”

Both of Chanteuse’s heads shook. She took in a deep breath before following after them. “We still should have asked them to come back with us!” both of her heads exclaimed. The three girls ran towards the same direction as two dragons. Luxure waved at the both of them while leading the pack of three back towards the marketplace. Despite Chanteuse starting last, she was right behind her. Leaving Athena to back up the rear. The unicorn closed her eyes and pushed herself to move faster, but she almost ended up tripping on her rather large dress. She just barely caught herself, as her body was leaning forward, but she fixed herself up, and turned over to Doble with a smirk on her face. She held her hands up; her pointer and middle fingers on both of her hands were held up to look like a “V”. Doble shook his head, as the three girls ran past them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter took a while to finish, and I hope to try and make the future ones take not as long. I did enjoy making this one though, and I'd like your feedback. Let me know how you feel the pacing is. I want to know mainly if the pacing felt too quick, and I"m curious what do you think about the characters so far? Do they standout? I'd like to hear some of your feedback as a whole, so I can apply some of it for later chapters. I hope you all enjoyed this one, and I look forward to writing chapter 5.


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